announcement of more than 100 arrests<\/a> in a major narcotics operation to make a broader argument about money: that increased spending on law enforcement is producing results.<\/p>\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of talk recently about money and budgets,\u201d Marceno said. \u201cYou can sit behind a keyboard and complain about the size of our budget. You can stand behind me, and you can look at what those dollars bought: fewer overdoses, more criminals in jail, and lives saved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll take the results over your Facebook math any day of the week,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Marceno\u2019s comments come as Lee County commissioners work toward adopting the county\u2019s fiscal year 2026-27 budget and consider a series of requests from the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
County staff is using approximately $327.7 million as LCSO\u2019s starting funding level for the upcoming budget. Staff said the sheriff\u2019s Priority 1 request totals about $20 million, which, if fully funded, would bring that allocation to roughly $347.7 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s Priority 1 request totals $20,031,056, according to Lee County budget documents. It includes approximately $2.54 million for increased Florida Retirement System contributions, $2.1 million for the agency\u2019s health plan, $1.5 million tied to lost inmate-welfare revenue, $185,000 for school resource officers at three new schools, $3.1 million for inmate medical costs and $1.7 million for maintenance and other contractual support.<\/p>\n
The largest component is approximately $11.1 million for compensation adjustments. County budget documents say Priority 1 includes a 5% LCSO pay increase.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marceno said Thursday that some of the rising expenses are outside his control.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s also other things that I have no control over, like retirements, like medical costs, inmate medical,\u201d Marceno said. \u201cI have no control over that. That\u2019s going to go up every year, and the sheriff has nothing to do with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marceno also pushed back Thursday against headlines characterizing his proposal as a request for $41 million more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese little headlines that people write and create just to get a little \u2026 they get the clicks, right?\u201d Marceno said. \u201cThey put the sheriff\u2019s name in it. \u2018Sheriff wants $41 million more.\u2019 It\u2019s actually \u2026 it\u2019s untruthful.\u201d<\/p>\n
County budget presentations show the figures surrounding the sheriff\u2019s requests have changed as the budget process has progressed.<\/p>\n
At an Aug. 4 budget workshop, county staff presented a $41.5 million \u201cFully Funded Total,\u201d which included the sheriff\u2019s capital request of approximately $11.38 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the Aug. 19 workshop, the county\u2019s presentation listed a $38.5 million \u201cFully Funded Operational Total,\u201d while showing the approximately $11.38 million capital request separately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The operational requests are broken into three priorities. Priority 1 totals about $20 million and includes retirement, health plan, inmate-related expenses, contractual services and compensation adjustments. Priority 2 calls for $4.3 million for 30 positions, while Priority 3 seeks $12 million for additional compensation and salary compression.<\/p>\n
The capital request is being handled separately. County staff said it plans to revisit capital funding around December, when year-end reserves are known.<\/p>\n
The sheriff\u2019s full Priority 1 request has not been finalized. During budget discussions, commissioners questioned whether the county should fund the entire 5% LCSO compensation adjustment while considering smaller raises for county employees.<\/p>\n
Commissioners discussed a possible 2.5% increase across the board, including budgeting the equivalent amount for the sheriff\u2019s office. District 4 Commissioner Brian Hamman noted that Marceno would retain authority over his agency\u2019s appropriation and could potentially provide a larger increase if he found the money elsewhere within his budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Commissioners also asked staff to calculate what a 3%\u00a0 increase would cost.<\/p>\n
Marceno used Thursday\u2019s Operation White Tide announcement to argue that previous investments in LCSO have paid off. He said commissioners previously supported additional funding that allowed the agency to double its narcotics unit as Lee County struggled with overdose deaths.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what funding our agency does for Lee County, Florida,\u201d Marceno said. \u201cThe cost of addiction is expensive. Our community is safe because we invest in our community where it matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marceno also said he wants the agency to continue growing, citing Lee County\u2019s growth and what he described as increasing calls for service.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always want to expand,\u201d Marceno said. \u201cMore people come, more calls for service, right? Our calls for service keep going up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional manpower is included in LCSO\u2019s requests. Marceno said he plans to discuss the agency\u2019s budget in greater detail once the process is complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will transparently go through the entire budget with anyone as soon as it\u2019s done, completed and approved,\u201d Marceno said.<\/p>\n
The FY 2026-27 budget has not been adopted. Lee County commissioners are scheduled to hold a workshop on potential property tax reform impacts Sept. 1. The county\u2019s first FY 2026-27 budget public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3 at 5:05 p.m. The final budget public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 15 at 5:05 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEE COUNTY (WINK) – Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno defended his agency\u2019s spending Thursday as county commissioners weigh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,22826,356,2094],"class_list":["post-378419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-carmine-marceno","tag-lee-county","tag-lee-county-sheriffs-office"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}