The nearly two-year, million-dollar budget dispute between Brunswick-area District Attorney Keith Higgins and Glynn County remains unsolved, as court-ordered mediation drags into 2026.
Meanwhile, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) continues to look into an alleged improper use of funds at the DA’s office by a former office manager, and no decision has been made about criminal wrongdoing.
The first session ordered by Senior Judge Kathy Palmer on Oct. 28 was “totally unproductive,” according to Higgins. He is seeking a mediated agreement stating that his office is no longer in arrears to the county due to the county withholding funds in excess to his deficit.
Glynn County declined to comment about the ongoing dispute, citing active litigation.
Higgins says that the protracted dispute has effectively defunded his office as Glynn, the largest county in his district, has withheld funds that he is legally due, he said.
The circuit, which includes Glynn, Camden, Appling, Wayne and Jeff Davis counties, has more than 7,900 open cases, an increase from the 6,640 backlogged cases in June 2024.
“Mainly, my goal is to get the county to acknowledge that basically no money is owed at this point, given all of the factors, and that they would adequately fund the office at the level it should be funded, and that they would also pay my attorney fees because they basically packed us into a corner,” Higgins said referred to the next mediation session scheduled for Jan. 8.
A forensic audit into the DA’s office ordered by the five counties that comprise the Brunswick judicial circuit revealed this fall that Higgins had not reconciled his books and had few fiscal oversight measures in place since taking over the office in 2021.
How did we get here?
The financial books for the DA’s office under Higgins have been described as a ”Byzantine maze.”
The dispute with Glynn began in January 2024, when Higgins was running for reelection. At that time, the DA’s office had hired three employees, although it allegedly did not have the funds to do so.
In February 2024, Higgins received an email from the Glynn County Finance Department stating that there were overdue payments regarding reimbursement to the county. Traditionally, Glynn County managed the DA’s payroll by paying all employees in the circuit.
The office has four funding sources — state funds, county funds, grants and so-called 5% money, the fee added to each criminal case adjudicated through the circuit.
On July 31, 2024, the Glynn County Board of Commissioners sent a letter to Higgins, officially informing him that the DA’s office owed $883,262.68. Consequently, the office’s payroll processing was stopped on Sept. 7, 2024.
Higgins stopped assigning prosecutors for juvenile court cases starting Oct. 1, 2024. Soon after that, the DA filed a suit in the Glynn County Superior Court that accused Glynn County of withholding payroll disbursements and conspiring with the other counties in the circuit to do so as well. The county filed a motion to dismiss in April 2025.
In August, Judge Palmer ordered the sides to mediation to make a good-faith effort to resolve the issues.
Impact on office
At the start of December, Higgins had 10 prosecutors for his circuit with an estimated population of 211,183. One prosecutor, however, is scheduled to retire at the end of 2025. The office also has a contract prosecutor who works full-time.
Higgins said that cases are going to continue to come in regardless of staffing levels, which has led to an unraveling of the speedy court process.
“There are cases that, for lack of a better term, are dying on the vine, so to speak, because they can’t be prosecuted in a timely manner. We are having to prioritize the cases that we prosecute, that we look at…that we pursue,” he said. “Some cases are going unprosecuted because we don’t have the resources to do it.”
There are no state or national standards for the recommended caseloads per prosecutor because it’s challenging to measure and varies by office. The National District Attorneys Association’s standards warn against a workload that doesn’t align with a prosecutor’s duty to ensure justice in each case.
GBI investigation
The basis of mediation between the DA and Glynn County was supposed to be a 10-page forensic audit conducted by Baker Tilly Advisory Group. The accountants uncovered a series of fraudulent expenditures that Higgins said were allegedly made by the former office manager, Barbara Baucum.
This includes purchases allegedly made with an office credit card during personal vacations, such as payments for flights and hotel payments in Las Vegas, totaling approximately $1,250. There was also approximately $14,000 paid from the office checking account that could not be accounted for. Higgins told auditors that up to 16 checks could have been forged with his signature.
Higgins said that he promptly reported the misappropriation of government funds to law enforcement for investigation. He then recused himself from the case and requested another attorney from the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia (PAC) to handle it.
The GBI opened an investigation on behalf of PAC Executive Director Pete Skandalakis on Sept. 9. Once complete, it will be turned over to PAC.
Baucum has not responded to requests for comment. She worked at the PAC after leaving the DA’s office, but was placed on leave after the forensic audit was released.
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