While Palm Beach County taxpayers are spending at least $211,000 a month for sheriff’s deputies to ferry county commissioners to meetings and other events, the elected officials are still pocketing taxpayer-funded subsidies for their personal cars.
Five accept auto allowances and a sixth, County Mayor Sara Baxter, gets a Chevy Tahoe in addition to secure rides with deputies in a program shrouded in secrecy.
The exception is Commissioner Marci Woodward, who in February decided she would no longer collect the $550-a-month car allowance since a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy is driving her essentially everywhere.
“I’m not really using my car so I didn’t think it was right to take an allowance,” said Woodward, a Republican seeking reelection to her south county District 4 seat.
The six other commissioners have no such qualms. Records show that five of them continue to cash in on the stipend that adds $6,600 to their roughly $114,000 annual salaries.
READ MORE: Palm Beach County approved undisclosed $3 million contract for commissioners’ security detail
Baxter, also a Republican seeking reelection, had a private security detail for at least two years before the program was expanded in November to all of the commissioners and the county administrator.
Two years ago, she opted to have the use of a county-owned Tahoe instead of a car allowance. The SUV’s retail price starts at about $70,000.
Using sheriff’s vehicles, her security detail drove her to and from January’s collegiate national championship football game in Miami Gardens, which she watched from real estate developer Stephen Ross’ private suite, The Palm Beach Post reported in April.
Whether such a trip would be allowed under the new contract, which had not yet been fully implemented, is unclear. It says that “protective services will relate only to official county business and incidental personal use.”
County Administrator Joe Abruzzo, who received a Tahoe as part of his $425,000-a-year employment contract, said he began reimbursing the county for the car once he was assigned a deputy.
“I feel like it’s the right thing to do,” said Abruzzo, a former Democratic state legislator who has been running the county since August. “This (security detail) was not contemplated when I was hired.”
Other counties don’t assign ‘agents’
Commissioner Gregg Weiss, the only stipend-taking commissioner to respond to Stet’s request for comment, said he still uses his personal car for county business so he believes the allowance is justified.
Like the other commissioners, he has a deputy or, as commissioners call them “an agent,” assigned to accompany him to public functions. Sometimes he meets the agent at the event. Other times, the agent drives him.
Both he and Woodward acknowledged that commissioners in other counties don’t have security details. But, they said, Palm Beach County is unique.
President Donald Trump has a home in Palm Beach that he visits frequently, which puts the county on the national radar. Some residents are incensed that the county holds $1 billion in Israeli bonds, making it the largest single investor in the world. Emotions run hot over Project Tango, a proposed data center on 200 acres in Loxahatchee.
All those factors combine to justify the expense, Weiss said. Plus, he said, if he’s safe so are the people attending the events.
Weiss, a Democrat running for mayor of West Palm Beach, declined to detail how often he uses his agent, saying it would compromise his security. “I’ve already probably said too much,” he said.
$770,000 for new vehicles
A blanket of secrecy covers the entire program.
The sheriff’s office declined to release any specifics about the security detail that is to cost taxpayers $3.3 million this year. By April 30, the office had billed the county $1.55 million for the security detail, a PBSO spokesperson said. She said no further information was available even though the agency had sent invoices to the county for payment.
The invoices, provided to Stet by the county’s clerk and comptroller’s office, show the sheriff billed the county $770,000 to buy vehicles for the program — an expense that is part of the contract the commission approved unanimously after meeting privately to discuss it.
The invoice doesn’t detail how many cars were purchased or their make and model. In a column marked quantity, the invoice says “1.”
Invoices for overtime pay are equally vague.
In February, the sheriff’s office asked for an additional $51,446, on top of the regular $211,000, to pay 11 officers 452 hours of overtime. The month before, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw requested an additional $12,486 for nine officers who worked 107 hours of overtime.
But, there is no explanation of what events prompted the extra work or any timesheets justifying the extra pay.
Typically, detailed information is provided to the clerk’s finance department before it pays the county’s bills.
But, a spokesperson for the clerk’s office said finance officers are bound by the terms of the contract. Under its terms, it’s up to Deputy County Administrator Tom Nadler, not the clerk, to review the bills. Once Nadler signs off on them, he sends them to the clerk’s office, which writes the check.
No transparency on spending
Michael Barfield, executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, said the sheriff’s refusal to provide detailed financial information about how much the security details are costing taxpayers violates the state’s public records act.
The sheriff’s office said the financial information is exempt under the decades-old Sunshine Law crafted to promote transparency in government.
PBSO said the law allows the agency to withhold information that would reveal, “surveillance techniques, procedures, and personnel; inventory of law enforcement resources, policies, or plans pertaining to mobilization, deployment or tactical operations.”
Barfield said the sheriff’s office is misinterpreting the law. The exemption allows it to keep its tactics secret, not hide its spending.
“Disclosing how much public money was spent, and when, does not reveal a surveillance technique, a tactical plan or any deployment information that a future adversary could exploit,” he said.
Revealing how many and what kind of vehicles were purchased wouldn’t compromise the program. Likewise, detailing why the deputies incurred overtime wouldn’t endanger them or the commissioners.
While the officers’ names could be redacted, taxpayers should be able to find out why the extra hours were necessary, he said.
The sheriff’s office also said it had no records of how much it spent providing security to Baxter during the roughly two years she was the lone commissioner to have deputies accompany her. A spokesperson for the clerk’s office said it didn’t receive any bills for Baxter’s security detail.
Locking down county administrative building
On June 16, the commission is to meet in a closed-door session with Bradshaw, as allowed by law, to discuss possible changes in the program, Abruzzo said.
It will be part of a larger discussion about plans to beef up security in the governmental center, including putting a sheriff’s substation in the downtown office tower.
At a meeting on May 19, commissioners voiced sharp differences about the need to, as Nadler put it, “lock down the building.” The proposed lockdown would require everyone, including the roughly 500 employees, to enter the building through the same door and be screened. All other doors would be locked.
Commissioners Joel Flores and Bobby Powell questioned the need for such stringent measures.
“We are a public-serving institution. Should there be certain levels of security? Absolutely,” Flores said. “But the public has a right to come into this building because they do business here.”
Powell agreed. “I don’t think I like it,” he said.
Commissioner Maria Sachs, however, gave full-throated support to the plan. “Damn right,” she said. “Whatever you need for security. Our No. 1 concern is to be secure for the people who work here.”
Commissioners were cautioned not to talk publicly about any specifics of the plan. Likewise, Abruzzo declined to say what issues involving the security details might be addressed.
“I was told by the county attorney I can’t comment on anything involving the security details,” he said.
Editor’s note: This story was corrected after publication to remove two references to Mayor Sara Baxter having a security detail with her when she attended Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing ceremony May 12 at Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Loxahatchee. Baxter said she did not have an agent assigned to her that day.
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
