In Sheriff Gregory Tony’s op-ed published in the Sun Sentinel on Oct. 16, he wrote that he would appeal to the state for additional money, opining that the County Commission didn’t gibe him the funding necessary to ensure the public’s safety. It was disappointing to learn of this by reading it in the newspaper, especially after thinking we had come to an understanding for this fiscal year. Still, we welcome this opportunity for the Department of Government Efficiency to examine the sheriff’s budget.
Broward County’s FY26 budget process was notable for being exceptionally transparent. All of our budget decisions occurred while DOGE laid a watchful eye on Broward County’s pocketbooks. Over the summer, our county turned over thousands of documents to Florida DOGE, which has examined every nook and cranny of our budget process, with the notable exception of the sheriff’s budget. The rest of our budget has been on full display in an open audit for everybody to examine.
Beam Furr is mayor of Broward County.
It may surprise some people that Broward County does not have the authority to audit or examine BSO’s budget. Even though over half of our general fund budget is allocated to BSO, we are not able to account for or analyze how every dollar is spent or how money gets prioritized.
Given the significant spending on public safety and the importance of this issue, BSO owes it to every other department and constitutional office to be transparent.
The last few months have shown that county government is very open to sharing how our money is spent efficiently across every department, from libraries to parks to transportation and many other vital functions. If additional funding is needed, BSO should be able to justify it out in the open and subject to scrutiny.
This transparency is especially important in light of the fact that the FY2026 budget process was among the toughest in recent years. Significant revenue losses due to a decline in expected tourism and sales tax revenue, and a 2% commission by the new tax collector, led to an $80 million loss in revenue. Our county worked hard to find savings, eliminating 159 budgeted positions and cutting $20 million in operating expenses.
Yet despite the significant work that went into paring down the county budget, not a single dime was cut from public safety. Due to the significant measures we took to save money, Broward County was actually able to provide an increase to BSO’s budget of roughly $24 million. That’s an increase of 3% — far above other departments within Broward County.
This increase was in keeping with our longstanding commitment to making public safety our top priority. Over the past several years alone, Broward County has funded a new training center for BSO, a fully reconfigured E911 system with world-class equipment, a significant pay increase for emergency dispatch recruitment, an increase in pay and benefits for detention officers, new vehicles and capital projects for BSO, including new helicopters, and much more. I believe any objective analysis of these allocations would agree that we have gone above and beyond ensuring that we are making all the necessary investments to keep our residents safe.
Our budget was the result of a diligent, months-long process that featured significant public input. We discussed BSO’s budget in great detail over several workshops. In addition, we held two budget public hearings prior to approving the FY26 budget, which provided ample opportunity for members of the public to weigh in. Sheriff Tony and other BSO representatives have spoken at length during these budget public hearings in the past, so they know they are an effective way to be heard by the Commission. However, no representatives from BSO, including Sheriff Tony, spoke at our public hearings or used this opportunity to make their position heard. In fact, I spoke with Sheriff Tony before the setting of the millage rate and the proposed budget, and we seemingly had consensus that the allocated increase in public safety funding was both sufficient and a positive step forward.
Sheriff Tony’s op-ed attempts to make comparisons to Palm Beach and Miami-Dade sheriff’s offices, but these are simply not applicable due to BSO’s smaller area of geographic responsibility. That said, we welcome the chance to go through this appeal process. We welcome the transparency and understanding it will provide so the public will know exactly how their money is being prioritized and spent. The Broward County Commission remains proud of our work during this difficult process, and we are confident we have lived up to our duty to secure the public safety of our residents.
Beam Furr is mayor of Broward County.