BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. — Broward County is responding to Sheriff Gregory Tony’s appeal for more funding.
Tony requested more than $935 million in funding ― a $73 million reduction from the original proposal ― after the sheriff’s office did a salary study, which he said showed Broward Sheriff’s Office employees were underpaid and unable to stay competitive.
But county officials pushed back, saying they will approve about $22 million.
Tony has since appealed that decision and it’s now up to the state to decide if BSO should get more money.
“We weren’t asking for new cars. We weren’t asking for new helicopters,” Tony previously told commissioners. “We were asking to keep our people, keep the people that are allowing us to have the freedoms and liberties in this community and that was reduced down to 3%.
“That means we’re getting 22 million new dollars and that was enough to keep the lights on. Meanwhile, the county to the north of us, in Palm Beach, requested $114 million and (they) received $116 (million). Miami-Dade asked for 10%, equated to $93 million and they got the whole bracket.”
While Florida sheriff’s offices are run separately from county government, county officials ultimately decide funding levels for all constitutional offices.
On Tuesday, Broward officials sent a lengthy letter to the state responding to Tony’s appeal with numerous claims over why commissioners didn’t approve the funds.
One of those claims is that commissioners approved money for salary increases in the past, but BSO then diverted that money to other projects.
Local 10 News is waiting to hear back from BSO regarding those claims.
Broward County leaders welcomed a new mayor on Tuesday, Mark Bogen, who did not weigh in on the county’s response to the sheriff’s appeal and claim of underfunding.
During the county’s budget battle with the state, commissioners told Local 10 News that more than half of the county’s discretionary budget from taxes paid by residents goes directly to fund BSO.
Editor’s note: The original version of this story misreported BSO’s proposed budget figure as $73 million. That number represents the reduction from the previous budget proposal, not the entire budget itself. It has since been corrected.
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