After flirting with it last year, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw next year will spend $1 billion — and then some.
The 10-figure milestone, which came a year after he delayed expensive purchases while running for reelection to a sixth term, represents a $116 million hike over his current budget.
Despite the eye-popping increase, Bradshaw wanted more.
While he initially agreed to cut $37 million out of his proposed $1.12 billion spending plan by trimming plans to buy 600 vehicles, he balked at further cuts.
Ultimately, with the support of county commissioners and some budgetary sleight of hand, he kept an additional $20 million that had been on the chopping block.
A spokesperson for Bradshaw didn’t return emails to comment about the negotiations that took months.
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‘We just don’t have it’
Before she retired in May, County Administrator Verdenia Baker insisted the sheriff was asking for too much.
The increase Bradshaw was seeking was more than the $93 million the county expected to receive in additional property tax revenue for all departments and services next year if it kept the tax rate unchanged, she said.
“We can’t balance any more on your departments. We are bare bones,” Baker told commissioners at a May workshop to discuss the county’s overall $9.5 billion spending plan. “Unless you want me to cut basic services on our side of the table in order to give the sheriff an additional $20 million. We just don’t have it.”
The county’s assertion that it has no room for cuts faces a large test this month when Florida DOGE auditors examine county spending.
But Commissioner Sara Baxter, a Republican, was adamant that the Democratic sheriff be given what he wanted.
“We had three deputies die because they were fixing a motorcycle that had broken down. That is unacceptable,” Baxter said, referring to the November deaths of Cpl. Luis Paez and deputies Ralph “Butch” Waller and Ignacio “Dan” Diaz, who were hit by an SUV along Southern Boulevard. “I would like you to find the dollars for the sheriff.”
“An additional $20 million?” Baker asked.
A month later, the county received revised figures from Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks, showing property values had increased more than anticipated.
That increase enabled the county to give Bradshaw an additional $10 million, leaving a $10 million gap. Interim Administrator Todd Bonlarron promised to give Bradshaw that $10 million at mid-year when money typically becomes available. Until then, PBSO is getting $1.08 billion in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, an increase of $116 million over last year, or 12%.
Next year’s PBSO budget represents a 67% increase over 2019.
While comparisons are difficult because each department is unique, Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony plans to spend $1.4 billion next year to provide law enforcement and jail supervision in the county that has 500,000 more residents than Palm Beach County. Unlike Bradshaw, Tony also provides fire services at a cost of $274 million.
Personnel, jail, software costs up
In his budget message to the commission, Bradshaw insisted that his initial proposal to increase spending by $170 million, or 17%, was justified.
Cost of living raises of 4.5% and merit increases of 4.5%, mostly mandated by union contracts, will increase the cost of paying his nearly 4,600 employees by $91.5 million, he said. Retirement contributions and payroll taxes add another $27.7 million, he said.
The cost of feeding and providing health care to jail inmates also has gone up, adding another $2.2 million to the budget, he said.
Another big hit was the $15.1 million the agency must pay for computer software for its body-worn and cruiser cameras, Bradshaw said. With the voter-approved infrastructure sales tax set to sunset Dec. 31, the cost of the software will come from general county revenues, primarily property taxes.
But, aside from operating costs, Bradshaw said he planned for the first time in three years to replace computer equipment and vehicles that are near or over the 125,000-mile mark. The $47 million price tag was too much, Baker said.
Instead of replacing 600 cruisers in one year, Baker said Bradshaw needed to come up with a schedule so taxpayers aren’t hit with a huge expense all at once.
Other agencies with large fleets, such as utilities and Palm Tran, spread out the costs, she said.
Since the sheriff’s office didn’t respond to requests for information, it is unknown how many vehicles Bradshaw plans to buy in the coming fiscal year.
Sheriff’s leases under fire
Bradshaw touted his record. Crime, he said, is down 17%. The agency answered 1.3 million calls in 2024, down slightly from the year before. Jail bookings held steady at about 26,824 while the average number of inmates held daily increased slightly to 2,074.
Critics said there are plenty of places for Bradshaw to reduce spending.
“He just spends money like it’s water,” said Mike Gauger, the sheriff’s longtime chief deputy turned bitter foe.
Gauger pointed to bonus packages top executives get when they retire. Gauger was a beneficiary of the program, pocketing $700,000 when he retired in 2021.
But, he said, the payouts are wrong. He promised to eliminate them when he unsuccessfully ran for sheriff against Bradshaw last year.
As he did on the campaign trail, Gauger, a Republican, also criticized Bradshaw for buying luxury cars for his executive staff and paying $35,000 a month to lease a floor in DiVosta Tower near the Gardens Mall for himself and his commanders.
That lease was supposed to expire in 2024, but it included a one-year option to extend.
According to Bradshaw’s budget, he pays John C. Bills Enterprises, a Palm Beach Gardens property management company, $411,000 annually to lease space for his auto theft task force. The lease began in 2023 and ends in 2028. No other information was available.
Little enthusiasm for slashing sheriff’s spending
Commissioners were largely supportive of the sheriff’s spending plan. Commissioner Gregg Weiss, a Democrat who is running for mayor of West Palm Beach, like Baxter, agreed the county should find a way to give Bradshaw the $20 million he sought. Commissioner Marci Woodward, a Republican, opposed it. The other four said little.
“The sheriff? I’m not even going to have that conversation,” Mayor Maria Marino told commissioners.
Taxpayers will find out how much they will pay for county services in several weeks. The commission gave preliminary approval to a tax rate of $4.50 per $1,000 of valuation to raise $1.5 billion in property taxes.
That money pays for parks, libraries and roads as well as the sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser and elections supervisor. With an influx of new construction, the unchanged tax rate would raise $116 million more than last year.
That’s the kind of increase Florida DOGE claims to be targeting. If the county wanted to raise the same amount of property tax money next year as it did this year, it would have to cut the tax rate to $4.24.
At a $4.50 tax rate, the owner of a home valued at $350,000, after a $50,000 homestead exemption, would pay $1,350 for county services next year.
At $4.24, the homeowner would pay $1,272.
Notices alerting taxpayers of how much the county, cities and other taxing units plan to collect and where to complain, are to be mailed by the property appraiser on Aug. 24.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
