Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony often reminds us that he earned a doctorate from Nova Southeastern University, but it was clearly not in politics — or simple math.
After a victory in the Democratic primary that likely gives him another four years in office, Tony’s confrontational rhetoric has led to a heated confrontation with county commissioners and possibly the governor who appointed him, Ron DeSantis.
The sheriff, who now gets 54 cents of every tax dollar Broward residents pay to operate the county, wants much more next year: $254 million more, a 48 percent increase, to fund staff raises, an evidence warehouse, a fleet of air rescue helicopters and more.
If Tony gets what he wants, the increase from the current 54 cents would leave a relative pittance for all of the county’s other programs, such as parks, libraries, housing, health care and resiliency.
“Nonsense numbers that a first-year accounting student wouldn’t use,” County Commissioner Steve Geller wrote in a letter to a local police union. “Nonsense accounting.”
Geller told the Police Benevolent Association after the PBA wrongly accused the county of “defunding” the police department and disrespecting Tony and his employees.
Even if you accept Tony’s highly questionable premise that the sheriff’s office has been seriously underfunded for years, his new request demonstrates a complete lack of political awareness.
Florida sheriffs are independently elected, but county commissioners set their budgets. The county, which already pays for a BSO emergency 911 call center and a luxury training center that has been plagued by cost overruns, is expected to give preliminary approval next Thursday to a $49 million budget increase — which Tony dismisses as woefully inadequate.
In a letter to the county that sparked the fight, Tony warned of longer response times to suicide attempts, life-threatening risks to inmates and the potential loss of BSO’s accreditation if he doesn’t get the $254 million.
The “the sky is falling” strategy is an old, worn-out political tactic that will not work.
Commissioners must persevere. There is nothing arbitrary and capricious about a $49 million increase.
But that could still force Tony to appeal to DeSantis and two Cabinet members in Tallahassee, who under state law have the authority to override commissioners and give Tony significantly more money if he can show the county was “arbitrary and capricious.”
DeSantis owes Tony nothing (it’s actually the other way around), and the cabinet members tasked with deciding the matter, Attorney General Ashley Moody and CFO Jimmy Patronis, both want to run for governor in 2026.
Neither Republican would want to be the referee in a battle between a Democratic sheriff and Democratic commissioners that could require a 33% increase in the county’s property taxes.
Tony received $743 million from the county this year, and that’s on top of the large sums of money his office receives from 13 cities that contract with BSO for police security.
Tony recently spent $74 million on a gleaming training center behind BSO headquarters, where gross overruns uncovered by a county investigation resulted in the sheriff’s name (and references to his doctorate) being put on light fixtures and shower curtains. It’s all reckless spending at the expense of Broward taxpayers.
Commissioners, who have refused to stand up to the sheriff for too long, realize too late that they have made a grave mistake by giving Tony complete control of the training center, a “delegation of authority” that must never happen again.
There is a delicious irony here.
All nine Democrats on the Broward County Commission detest the dimwitted DeSantis, his extreme agenda and his open hostility toward local government. But they hope he will flatly reject Tony and his grandstanding, greedy ways.
The conflict over the sheriff’s budget is exacerbated by the Broward Democrats’ and their party’s misguided decision to support Tony in last week’s primary. (We strongly recommend another candidate, Steven A. Geller, who is not related to the Broward county commissioner.)
Should Tony somehow win an appeal of his budget, Broward taxpayers will be saddled with the largest single-year property tax increase in county history. And after voting for him despite his well-known ethical lapses, they deserve every penny of it.
Steve Bousquet is the Sun Sentinel’s Opinion Editor and a columnist in Tallahassee and Fort Lauderdale. Contact him at sbousquet@sunsentinel.com or (850) 567-2240 and follow him at X @stevebousquet.
