Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen and two county commissioners are calling for greater transparency from Sheriff Gregory Tony, escalating a months-long dispute over the management of the sheriff\u2019s budget and the use of taxpayer dollars.<\/p>\n
Bogen said county leaders are directing the county auditor to investigate how the Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office spends its approximately $870 million budget. The first step will be to request budget documents from the sheriff. If the records are not provided voluntarily, county officials say they may pursue legal action to obtain them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Broward County need to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent,\u201d Bogen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is nothing to hide, then there shouldn\u2019t be a problem,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Bogen accused Tony of failing to cooperate with county officials and questioned why the sheriff\u2019s office had not provided the information commissioners are seeking.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is he hiding? Why won\u2019t he cooperate? Why won\u2019t he give us the information that the taxpayers deserve?\u201d Bogen said. \u201cWe want accountability. We want transparency, and we want to make sure the
money is being spent appropriately.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor also raised questions about the Broward Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s new training facility, which county leaders say cost $40 million more to build than originally scheduled. Bogen questioned whether the facility included amenities such as a massage table, sauna, spa and cold plunge. <\/p>\n
The dispute extends beyond the budget. Earlier this week, commissioners decided to explore whether the county should regain control of the 911 call center and move other responsibilities, including airport, seaport and fire services, out of the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Union leaders say the ongoing conflict is affecting firefighters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to get away from all this stranglehold turmoil, and they\u2019re very afraid to speak because they\u2019re being intimidated,\u201d said Walter Dix, vice president of the International Association of Firefighters.<\/p>\n
Dix also said the sheriff recently placed union officers under investigation by internal affairs.<\/p>\n
Commissioners Lamar Fisher and Michael Udine also called for greater cooperation between county government and the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you manage accountability and transparency when you\u2019re not even engaged with us? That\u2019s the $64 question. Ask him,\u201d Fisher said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be truthful, let\u2019s bring the facts out, and let\u2019s sit down and work this out together for the benefit of the public and for public safety,\u201d Udine said.<\/p>\n
Bogen also criticized videos Tony has posted on social media, alleging that they misrepresent the facts surrounding the dispute.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not being truthful, honest to the taxpayers of Broward County,\u201d Bogen said.<\/p>\n
In a social media video posted Friday, Tony called the commissioners liars and referenced a 72-page audit report, as well as a previous controversy involving shower curtains.<\/p>\n
Tony said he plans to release the auditor\u2019s report publicly so residents can review it.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Bogen said he plans to seek access to the sheriff\u2019s office training facility on Monday to examine the building firsthand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen and two county commissioners are calling for greater transparency from Sheriff Gregory Tony,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,249,251,250],"class_list":["post-424767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424767","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=424767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}