{"id":165457,"date":"2026-02-23T10:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/165457\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T10:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:29:13","slug":"bso-takes-budget-fight-to-capitol-but-its-budget-doesnt-add-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/165457\/","title":{"rendered":"BSO takes budget fight to Capitol, but its budget doesn\u2019t add up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Gov. Ron DeSantis, right, and Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony<\/p>\n

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Broward Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony wants the State of Florida to force Broward County to give him a hefty budget increase. He wants it so badly that on Tuesday he and a team of his top brass will be in Tallahassee to appeal the county\u2019s partial denial of his unprecedented billion-dollar-plus proposal.<\/p>\n

While state law grants county commissions broad discretion to set budgets for the constitutional officers they fund, including sheriffs, Tony seems wired to win.<\/p>\n

The Florida Administration Commission, which will decide the matter, is chaired by Gov. Ron DeSantis, an ally who originally appointed Tony as sheriff seven years ago and has stood by him despite Florida Department of Law Enforcement findings that Tony lied under oath to obtain a Florida driver\u2019s license, lied about his prior LSD use on an application to become a police officer in Coral Springs and failed to disclose his arrest for murder as a juvenile in Philadelphia when applying for jobs as a police officer and to the governor before his appointment as sheriff. Tony was acquitted.<\/p>\n

\"\"From top, state Attorney General James Uthmeier, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia<\/p>\n

The other three commission members are in DeSantis\u2019s Cabinet: Attorney General James Uthmeier, DeSantis\u2019s former chief of staff; Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. The meeting can be viewed live online at 9 a.m. on The Florida Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If Tony succeeds, as much as $73.7 million in county funds could be diverted to BSO and taken away from other county needs this fiscal year. That\u2019s the so-called \u201cfunding gap\u201d Tony has identified since the county trimmed his requested overall budget increase of nine percent \u2013 to $1.009 billion \u2013 to just over three percent, or $935.34 million in September.<\/p>\n

Yet a close look at BSO\u2019s budgets, most hundreds of pages long, that Tony\u2019s office puts out to the public each year shows they\u2019re peppered with numbers that often literally don\u2019t add up.<\/p>\n

TENS OF MILLIONS IN BSO BUDGET DISCREPANCIES<\/p>\n

A Florida Bulldog review found the sheriff\u2019s adopted budgets for BSO\u2019s Department of Law Enforcement Services (DLE) contain tens of millions of dollars in discrepancies when \u201crevenues collected and budgeted\u201d are compared with the detailed expenses provided for its police service contracts with a dozen municipalities, the county\u2019s international airport, Port Everglades and the sheriff\u2019s Regional Communications Division. Also included are the revenue and expense numbers for DLE\u2019s Special Details Unit which, for a fee, contracts with local businesses and governmental agencies to provide deputies for extra duty work handling security at events.<\/p>\n

Tens of millions in additional budget discrepancies were found when comparing the Department of Fire Rescue\u2019s revenues to the detailed expense pages for contracted services provided to eight municipalities, Port Everglades and the aviation rescue unit. The Fire budget tables are below. This story, however, will focus on BSO\u2019s policing contracts.<\/p>\n

\"DLE<\/p>\n

The two most recent fiscal years where \u201cactual\u201d dollar amounts are provided in BSO\u2019s published budgets are 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. In those two years, the discrepancies for DLE police services totaled $29.3 million. Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) budget discrepancies in the same two-year period amounted to $25.3million \u2013 swelling all discrepancies for BSO contract services in those two fiscal years to $54.6 million.<\/p>\n

\"DLE<\/p>\n

\"fire<\/p>\n

\"fire<\/p>\n

One of the largest single discrepancies we found involves BSO\u2019s Special Details Unit. The adopted budget book for the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 2026 states the unit\u2019s \u201cactual\u201d revenue in fiscal year 2023-2024 was $9.74 million, or more specifically $9,738,103. But the backup information that details the unit\u2019s expenses, largely for personnel, totals $4.85 million \u2013 a difference of $4.88 million. To make understanding even more difficult, last year\u2019s 2024\/2025 budget lists the prior year\u2019s budget as $10.5 million.<\/p>\n

We asked Broward County\u2019s Independent Auditor Bob Melton about that discrepancy and others. (Melton\u2019s office does not audit BSO.) He gave us his observations but did not conduct an audit.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur understanding is that\u00a0contracted services should be provided at actual cost, whereas this information appears to show revenues are exceeding costs by several million dollars for special [detail] services,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, keep in mind that cost can be defined in several different ways.\u00a0 For example, one could only include direct costs, or cost could also include allocation of central services, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al Lamberti, a longtime BSO operations commander who also served as Broward Sheriff from 2007 to 2013, looked over the budget number comparisons.<\/p>\n

\u201d In light of the fact that BSO is appealing its budget request to the Governor and Cabinet members for a budget increase, these discrepancies are very concerning,\u201d he said. \u201cThe total amount for two years could have funded the Sheriff\u2019s alleged budget shortfall.\u00a0\u00a0As a former sheriff, I understand sound budgeting requires independent oversight, routine internal and external audits, and complete transparency, so that the public can have confidence on how their tax dollars are managed. An independent annual budget audit is required by state statute. All sheriffs have an obligation to protect the public, not only physically, but fiscally as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t BSO\u2019s numbers match up? Where did the money go?\u00a0 While the reason for those discrepancies and others indicates significant fiscal mismanagement, it does not necessarily mean there is any missing money or that there has been any fraud or theft of public funds. A forensic audit would be needed to make such a determination.<\/p>\n

BSO\u2019s Division of Internal Audit Services, part of the Office of Inspector General\u2019s Office, handles all types of audits for the agency. BSO Maj. Barry Lindquist was promoted to IG last year, and has been an assistant IG since 2020, according to BSO\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Lindquist did not return phone and emailed questions last week asking whether the IG\u2019s office conducts financial audits of BSO\u2019s budgets. (The IG\u2019s annual report for 2023-2024<\/a>, the only annual report published on its web page, states that it conducted 187 audits in 2023 and says four were completed. None of the four, as described in the report, involved BSO\u2019s budget.)<\/p>\n

Instead, Florida Bulldog\u2019s inquiries were forwarded to BSO\u2019s public information office, which said Friday it would \u201cresearch\u201d the matter.<\/p>\n

The Inspector General\u2019s Office touts its independence<\/a>. But all that really means is that Lindquist is independent of BSO\u2019s various department heads. Like most every BSO employee, the Inspector General serves at the pleasure of Sheriff Tony. He also reports directly and solely to him \u201cto ensure audit-related activities and investigations are performed independent of any influence or direction\u201d from anyone except the sheriff. That\u2019s not exactly a confidence builder for the IG\u2019s stated goal of \u201cpromoting both accountability and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Broward County Attorney Andrew Meyers<\/p>\n

In his appeal to the state, Tony accused the county of supplying BSO with inadequate funding for years, and making \u201carbitrary and capricious\u201d cuts to his current budget. Among other things, he argued those cuts are evidence of a lack of support for public safety. The sheriff has said repeatedly he wants to give pay hikes to deputies to fix \u201csalary disparities\u201d with other police agencies. His 75-page appeal contends that quick action is needed to ensure BSO\u2019s ability to maintain public safety for Broward\u2019s residents and visitors.<\/p>\n

SHERIFF TONY VS. BROWARD COUNTY<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s 71-page reply, signed by County Attorney Andrew Meyers, defends its commitment to public safety, noting among other things that BSO receives more funding than any other county agency and accounts for 49.64 percent of its annual general, property tax funded budget. It also contends that Tony, an elected constitutional officer whose authority flows from the state\u2019s constitution, did not adequately justify his enormous budget request to the county commission and has been less than honest in his public remarks about the dispute. For example, it contends BSO has received plenty of money for personnel raises, but the sheriff chose instead to divert those funds to other purposes.<\/p>\n

Broward County also accuses BSO of \u201cfinancial mismanagement,\u201d citing Tony\u2019s diversion of funds from salaries to cover cost overruns on capital projects, notably his pet project, BSO\u2019s $73.7-million training center. The center, which opened in July 2024, was plagued by an $18.2-million budget overrun \u2013 beyond the county\u2019s appropriation of $55.5 million \u2013 and was caused by numerous change orders initiated by the sheriff\u2019s office without county approval, the response says.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s assessment of Tony\u2019s financial mismanagement does not mention any of the numerous discrepancies found by Florida Bulldog. Instead, it focuses on his handling of the training center fiasco, Tony\u2019s use of \u201cmisleading\u201d statements to the county commission to obtain helicopter funding and his \u201cposturing and gamesmanship\u201d amid the 911 call center staffing crisis in 2022-2023.<\/p>\n

Some of the BSO budgetary discrepancies we found for the two fiscal years of 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 appear to advantage the sheriff\u2019s office, meaning revenues from its police services contracts with its municipal customers exceeded the cost of providing those services. More often, though, BSO\u2019s municipal customers appear to have come out ahead, with what they paid in their contracts being less than BSO\u2019s costs \u2013 at least according to BSO\u2019s faulty budget numbers.<\/p>\n

The discrepancies are most readily apparent when looking at full year budget numbers. For example, the current adopted budget for 2025\/2026 states that in 2023\/2024 DLE\u2019s contract services brought in revenue of $274,705,732. The previous year\u2019s 2024\/2025 budget, however, says that in 2023\/2024 DLE collected nearly $20 million more in contract services revenue, or $294,373,310. It is anyone\u2019s guess as to which number is correct.<\/p>\n

BSO\u2019s budget numbers are similarly out of whack for the DLE\u2019s 2022-2023 budget. Its adopted budgets for 2025\/2026 and 2024\/2025 agree that DLE\u2019s contract revenues were $259,525,849 in 2022\/2023. But its 2023\/2024 budget says the DLE\u2019s contract revenues for 2022\/2023 were $282,992,030 \u2013 a nearly $23.5 million difference.<\/p>\n

The reported numbers for the sheriff\u2019s municipal contracts, while containing numerous discrepancies, cut both ways as to whether the municipality or BSO came out ahead.<\/p>\n

For example, according to BSO\u2019s current 2025\/2026 budget that ends Sept. 30 the \u201cactual\u201d revenues it collected from Oakland Park in 2023-2024 were $18.1 million and expenses were $17.9 million \u2013 or $214,316 on the plus side for BSO.<\/p>\n

But the current budget\u2019s numbers for 2022-2023 flip in Oakland Park\u2019s favor. That year BSO\u2019s revenue from Oakland Park was $17,172,399 and its reported cost to supply police services to that city was $17,195,497. Oakland Park came out ahead by $23,098.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Tony\u2019s appearance in Tallahassee Tuesday before Gov. DeSantis and his Cabinet, sitting as the Florida Administration Commission whose duties include resolving sheriffs budget appeals, will apparently be a first for a Broward sheriff.<\/p>\n

Yet some police chiefs have wondered why, given BSO\u2019s own large budget discrepancies, he\u2019s appealing.<\/p>\n

Said one Broward chief, \u201cHow can you ask for more money when your own numbers don\u2019t add up?\u201d<\/p>\n


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