Sheriff Tony’s Tallahassee Gambit: A Billion-Dollar Face-Off Over Missing Math

In a high-stakes move that has brought the internal friction of Broward County governance to the doorsteps of the State Capitol, Broward Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony is leading a delegation of his top brass to Tallahassee. His mission: to force Broward County to hand over tens of millions of dollars in additional funding that local commissioners have already refused.

However, as the Sheriff prepares to plead his case before the Governor and Cabinet, a blistering report from the FloridaBulldog suggests that the foundation of Tony’s financial argument is built on shifting sands. While the Sheriff claims his department is being starved of essential resources, an analysis of the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) own books reveals a series of “discrepancies” and “financial mismanagement” that have left critics questioning where the money is actually going.

The Billion-Dollar Appeal

The conflict centers on Sheriff Tony’s unprecedented billion-dollar-plus budget proposal. In September, the Broward County Commission trimmed Tony’s requested nine-percent increase—which would have brought the total to $1.009 billion—down to a more modest three-percent increase, or $935.34 million.

Tony didn’t take the “no” for an answer. In a 75-page appeal to the state, the Sheriff accused the county of making “arbitrary and capricious” cuts that endanger public safety. He has identified a $73.7 million “funding gap” that he claims is necessary to fix salary disparities and maintain operations.

But as FloridaBulldog investigative reporter Dan Christensen points out, the numbers provided by BSO often fail to withstand basic scrutiny. “A FloridaBulldog review found the sheriff’s adopted budgets for BSO’s Department of Law Enforcement Services (DLE) contain tens of millions of dollars in discrepancies when ‘revenues collected and budgeted’ are compared with the detailed expenses provided for its police service contracts,” the report states.

Math That Doesn’t Add Up

The investigation highlights glaring inconsistencies in how BSO reports its revenue from municipal contracts. For instance, BSO’s adopted budgets for the 2025/2026 and 2024/2025 fiscal years agreed that contract revenues for 2022/2023 were roughly $259.5 million. Yet, the 2023/2024 budget claimed those same revenues for the same period were $282.9 million—a discrepancy of $23.5 million.

In specific cities like Oakland Park, the numbers appear equally fluid. According to the current 2025/2026 budget, BSO collected $18.1 million from the city against $17.9 million in expenses for the 2023-2024 year—a slight surplus. However, looking back at the 2022-2023 figures within the same budget documents, the numbers “flip,” showing expenses outstripping revenue.

These “accounting gymnastics” have drawn the ire of county officials. County Attorney Andrew Meyers, in a 71-page rebuttal, accused the Sheriff of being “less than honest” in his public remarks. The county contends that BSO already consumes 49.64 percent of the annual general property tax-funded budget, more than any other agency.

The Training Center Shadow

The “funding gap” Tony is fighting for matches a familiar figure: $73.7 million. That is the final price tag of BSO’s new training center, a “pet project” that opened in July 2024. The facility was originally estimated at $34 million, but it ballooned to more than double that cost.

The county’s response to Tony’s appeal cites “financial mismanagement,” specifically pointing to the diversion of funds intended for deputy salaries to cover the $18.2 million in unauthorized cost overruns at the training center. Commissioners argue that Tony created his own “shortfall” by prioritizing a building over the very personnel he now claims are underfunded.

As FloridaBulldog reports, Commissioner Steve Geller has been a vocal critic of what he calls “hogwash accounting.” Geller previously noted that the Sheriff often cumulatively adds the same requested numbers year after year to make shortfalls look more monumental than they are. “If you ask for the same $1 million project for 4 consecutive years which the County doesn’t provide… under the sheriff’s cumulative accounting, there’s a $4 million shortfall. Preposterous!” Geller told the Bulldog.

The Road to Tallahassee

The outcome of the Tallahassee appeal carries massive implications for Broward taxpayers. If the state sides with Tony, as much as $73.7 million could be diverted from other county needs—such as parks, transit, and social services—to the BSO.

Tony maintains that the county’s refusal to meet his demands is a “lack of support for public safety.” He has focused heavily on the need for pay increases to retain deputies, citing high turnover in detention facilities. However, the county argues that Tony has “cherry-picked” data to show low pay, while failing to disclose the actual number of vacancies or acknowledge that BSO’s budget has grown consistently for years.

As the Sheriff and his team take their case to the state capital, they face a Cabinet that includes ambitious political figures like Attorney General Ashley Moody and CFO Jimmy Patronis. While Tony hopes for a friendly audience, the FloridaBulldog’s findings suggest that any deep dive into the BSO ledger might yield more questions than answers.

For now, the residents of Broward County are left watching a high-stakes game of political poker, where the “pot” is nearly $74 million in taxpayer money—and the math, as the investigation concludes, simply “doesn’t add up.”

Source: FloridaBulldog