Cobb County Superior Court clerk to repay nearly $84K in passport fees
Person holding a United States passport with Department of State logo visible, Lafayette, California, May 23, 2023. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - Cobb County leaders have announced that Superior Court Clerk Connie Taylor will repay nearly $84,000 in passport mailing fees she collected over her first two years in office. The decision was approved Tuesday night at the county commission meeting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
State law allows Superior Court clerks to keep a $35 processing fee for each passport application, but officials say Taylor also retained more than $24 per application in expedited shipping charges that should have gone to the county.
A controversial law allows Superior Court clerks to supplement their income with passport processing fees. Lawmakers passed a bill last year that would require the superior court clerks to disclose the total amount of all passport application fees during each quarter.
RELATED: Georgia lawmaker wants to change who gets passport fees
According to Cobb Commission Chair Lisa Cupid, Taylor had expressed willingness to return the extra funds as early as November 2022, but questions remained about the exact amount owed and what could be collected at the time.
FOX 5 Atlanta previously reported that Taylor collected more than $400,000 in passport fees in addition to her $170,000 annual salary.
Taylor was reelected in November 2024.