The Palm Beach County Commission approved a roughly $3.3 million undisclosed contract with the sheriff’s office for security due to recent threats and safety concerns.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the commission approved the one-year “security services” agreement with Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, which included a one-time cost of $770,000. The motion stemmed from a private meeting among commissioners on Sept. 30 about security plans.
The agenda item did not explain what the security entailed, whom it was for, nor how the money would be implemented. The actual contract was not included on the agenda. Instead, the document cited a portion of Florida public records law that excludes the disclosure of crime victims’ personal information.
No commissioner asked for more information during the public meeting, and the item passed unanimously.
The contract comes after The Palm Beach Post reported that District 6 Commissioner Sara Baxter used PBSO deputies as her personal security detail, billing taxpayers for them to accompany her to public and private events — including some at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and county Republican meetings. The reported cost in July was $20,000.
Baxter, who is slated to become county mayor next year, has previously said she asked for security because she felt unsafe at meetings she attended, the Post reported.
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Baxter, and fellow Commissioner Marci Woodward, did not return requests for comment. Terri Barbera, a spokesperson for PBSO, did not respond to requests for comment.
In a phone interview with WLRN on Wednesday, District 3 Commissioner Joel Flores clarified some details of the new agreement.
According to Flores, commissioners raised concerns about threats and feeling unsafe attending public events late in the night — especially because of recent high-profile attacks on public, such as the assassinations of lawmakers in Minnesota and conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
He did not single out any one commissioner for the request.
“Some of these meetings are hostile. I have personally been called very racist things to the point that I've been told to go back to my country,” said Flores, a military veteran and former Greenacres mayor. He was born in Puerto Rico and is the board’s first Hispanic commissioner.
Parts of the money would go to training PBSO on this type of security detail, Flores said. That detail would be provided to commissioners on an at-need basis. The lack of information for the public was requested by PBSO, he said.
“ Because of the nature of it and the security purpose,” Flores said, “PBSO did not want it to be talked about in, in the public light.”
The $3.3 million figure is an estimation — based on a calculation if all seven commissioners took advantage of the security detail year-round, according to Flores.
“ We really don't know … what the actual number is,” Flores said. “I'm hoping it's much lower than what we approved.”
