LONG COUNTY, Ga. () — Long County’s money has continued to run short, leading to negotiations to lease the Long County Jail, was told.

The lack of money stems from a misappropriation of county funds, a source close to the jail told .

Long County Manager Chuck Scraggs confirmed that they have entered lease negotiations.

News 3 has learned through sources that the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has reportedly visited the facility previously and could return this week. was shown paperwork indicating GDC could be the leasing agent, but Scraggs would neither confirm nor deny GDC’s involvement.

If the jail is leased out, current inmates would have to remain at other jails.

Scraggs said that Long County asked for a tax anticipation note from the bank after realizing the budget had come in short.

Scraggs said the jail would not be able to be funded until after Jan. 1, potentially, depending on help from the bank.

“What happened is that our taxes have come in short,” Scraggs said. “Far short of what was budgeted, and we are having to defer that. We asked for a tax anticipation note from the bank originally for that for about $470,000 or half a million. When we saw the shortfall in taxes, we had to ask for that note for payroll and bills.”

Scraggs said, “So that slid the tax anticipation note to open the jail back. Then the bank informed us that we’re sort of up against the cap because we’re asking for another $500,000 to make it to October 15th, which is when the state refunds our insurance money and we’ll be able to get from there into the tax season, which is mostly December.

That’s when our property taxes come in. That means we cannot get a tax anticipation note to open the jail until after January 1st. And then you’re looking at literally a two month time frame to open the jail and then one month without income due to taking inmates in that we won’t be able to hold until 30 days later.

So, you’re looking at April 1st to get money. If negotiations don’t work here, we will look to do something after the first of the year.”