Sheriff seeks $75 million budget boost
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's budget approaches $1 billion but he would spend nothing on new cars.
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In what would be a record-setting budget, Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw is planning to spend $952 million next year — a $75 million one-year increase — as he campaigns for an unprecedented sixth term.
Even as it nears $1 billion, the proposed budget is notable for what it doesn’t include. For the second year in a row, Bradshaw said he won’t spend any money to replace aging patrol cars, boats, laptops or the department’s antiquated two-way radio system — key tools relied upon by his 1,700 deputies.
Instead, those purchases would be delayed until 2026 when Bradshaw estimated the agency would need $83.8 million — some three times what he estimates he would need in subsequent years — to buy needed equipment. That would push his spending over $1 billion, but not until after November’s election.
New cars alone would cost $58.9 million in 2026 and then drop to $19.9 million in 2027, he said in the proposal submitted this month to Palm Beach County commissioners.
So what’s going on? Bradshaw, through a spokesperson, declined to explain why he was delaying the purchases.
“The sheriff sits down with each commissioner separately to answer any questions they may have about the budget,” sheriff’s spokesperson Teri Barbera said in an email.
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County Commissioner Gregg Weiss, who has gotten a budget briefing from Bradshaw about his plans to increase spending by 8.6%, said the sheriff’s budget in some ways is a mirage, thanks to state law.
“He can move anything around at any time,” Weiss said. The sheriff used to have to ask county commissioners for permission, which allowed the public to see how he was spending his money. Several years back the Florida Legislature changed the law.
“He used to have to come back to the board for approval,” Weiss said. “That’s been taken away from us.”
Mike Gauger, who was once Bradshaw’s right-hand man and is now running to replace him as the county’s top cop, said money is regularly moved around. For instance, the former chief deputy said, Bradshaw can say he’s going to use money to hire more deputies and instead use it for his “pet projects.”
But police vehicles are expensive. Bradshaw said each is replaced when they hit 125,000 miles. The agency used to have a schedule to replace a fixed number of high-mileage cruisers annually to avoid the sticker shock of replacing many in one year, Gauger said.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Gauger, a Republican who is expected to face off against Bradshaw, a Democrat, in November. Both are 76.
In his proposal, Bradshaw said he doesn’t plan to let equipment fall apart. He is planning to spend $17.8 million next year to repair — not replace — cars, software, equipment and facilities.
Are there other options? Even if Bradshaw sticks to his spending plan, he can always ask for more money. He did so in 2022 when he reversed course and agreed to allow his deputies to carry Narcan to revive people who overdose on opioids. But, the commission had to pony up the $200,000 annual costs of the program.
More than 15 years ago, Bradshaw asked the commission for $11 million in the middle of the year to replace patrol cars and equip them with laptops. When commissioners balked, he knocked it down to $2.6 million for the cars alone. The commission dipped into reserves.
When Bradshaw wanted to equip his deputies with body-worn cameras, commissioners agreed to give him a cut of sales tax proceeds for the 2023 rollout of what he described as a $70 million 10-year program. The money runs out next year but the spending is far from complete.
He also has other sources of cash. He gets grants, which totaled $14.7 million this year. He didn’t say how he plans to use money that he didn’t spend this year. Last year, he carried over nearly $25 million.
What is driving up the budget? As in years past, Bradshaw attributes the increase to salary hikes negotiated by union contract along with health insurance increases. The cost of food and health care for inmates is also escalating, he said.
“As with any law enforcement agency, wages and benefits represent the largest portion of the Sheriff’s Office budget,” he wrote.
He plans to spend $769.9 million on wages and benefits for his roughly 4,500 deputies, corrections officers and support staff. That is $64.3 million more than he is spending this year. He said $42.2 million is directly attributable to the police union contract. It expires on Sept. 30 and a new contract is being negotiated.
Bradshaw, who had been West Palm Beach police chief before winning the sheriff’s job in 2004, also said it will cost $1.5 million more to feed and provide health care for inmates, pushing the cost of running the main jail on Gun Club Road and the one in Belle Glade up by a modest 2.7%, from $196 million to $201 million.
The outlook? Weiss, a fellow Democrat, said he supports Bradshaw’s request. “It’s big, but it seemed reasonable,” he said. “The cost of everything is going up.”
More information: Read Sheriff Bradshaw’s proposed budget here.