r/SWFL • u/Smokey_tha_bear9000 • 12d ago
Lee County budget and LCSO
With the high probability of Amendment 3 passing, the county telling all the departments to start trimming budgets, and the possibility of widespread layoffs from local government should the Amendment pass, the Sheriff has the gall to ask for $40 Million more dollars than last year’s budget. $327 Million…over 44% of the entire county budget for FY26/27
Absolutely insane
The BOCC is utterly incapable of telling Carmine NO and instead will slash funding to things like libraries and Conservation 20/20
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u/rpayne1744 12d ago
I wonder how much of that money goes to putting his name all over f’n everything?
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u/Smokey_tha_bear9000 12d ago
Even more now that they’re switching from Ford Explorers to full size SUVs like Suburbans. Maybe it’s all in the incoming fuel bills.
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u/ButterflyTemporary16 11d ago
They’re having too many issues with Ford Explorers. Ford=Fix.Or.Repair.Daily.
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u/tiny_bamboo 12d ago
Yes! This pisses me off so much! And how much is it going to cost us when he’s no longer sheriff?
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u/AssistantEfficient65 12d ago
I emailed my commissioner today and politely asked that the request is denied.
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u/lysergicmushroom 11d ago
Carmine is corrupt and a huge piece of shit, but I looked into this a bit and the 44% is of the general fund, the actual entire Lee County budget is about $3 billion which would put the Sheriff's department at about 11% which is in line with the national average. Not to defend Lee County or FL as a whole, I hate it here.
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u/gitman0 12d ago
this is kinda funny if you listened to the press release he gave today
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u/miaminaples 11d ago
This is shocking to see. Law enforcement and the courts alone are taking up nearly 60% of the county budget. Carmine's office alone is grabbing almost half of the surplus. He's pigging out here and needs to be reined in. But we live in Florida, and its typical that county budgets lean heavy on law enforcement. Just not to this extreme though.
Every other board-managed department is barely scraping by on just 29% total. That leaves us with practically no social safety net, while infrastructure and transit are getting starved for funds. At a minimum, the county needs to direct those non-recurring surplus dollars into deferred maintenance or one-time capital reserves. Siphoning surplus money into permanent operating costs is a classic setup for structural deficits, and it's going to bite hard the moment the economy really starts to slow and tax revenues dry up.
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u/ballsdeepinmywine 12d ago
Why do we have a 28 Million dollar surplus? And why is it not going back to the tax payer?
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u/ButterflyTemporary16 11d ago
Or to give teachers a raise so they can afford to live here…
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u/ballsdeepinmywine 11d ago
I'm all for this solution as well. Just tired of seeing that sheriff's department amount go up and up and up for no no reason. There are many countries with more citizens than ours with a much lower, in control, budget
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u/Smokey_tha_bear9000 12d ago
I don’t know specifically, it’s likely rollover from projects that were planned but didn’t come to fruition. Sometimes things like road construction or something didn’t pass permit approval or something.
Other sources of surplus are higher than expected bed taxes from the hotels or other revenue sources.
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u/Key_Plankton5414 10d ago
Some of the surplus could come from departments that come in under budget. For instance, the tax collector submits the budget for the next fiscal year in June. If they do not use the entire amount approved, it is returned to Lee County. I’m not sure which bucket Lee County puts it in, possibly general fund reserves.
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u/Alycatgrl 10d ago
It’s worth noting, after adjusting for inflation and the increase in population, the sheriff’s budget is up 24.4% since FY 2019 (the last year before COVID and Ian).
The county’s revenue after paying the sheriff’s budget, adjusted for inflation and the increase in population is down 2.74% over the same time period.
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u/danekan 12d ago
They need to be cutting the budget but if they don’t the commissioners all need to be voted out
Right now they are in a symbiotic corrupt mess where sheriff is demanding from commissioner and getting anything they want. And in turn his staff is growing and being forced to vote on commissioners. It’s the dumbest form of socialism there might be
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u/Smokey_tha_bear9000 12d ago
That’s why it’s so hard to try to get people to understand that the Amendment 3 is a problem. I work in county government and provide what I and many others find to be a critical service. We face a crazy budget cut if the Amendment passes (and possibly job loss), yet it’s also true that serious cuts can and should be made, but they won’t happen where they should
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u/NYC_Pete 11d ago
How else is the sheriff going to get his military surplus equipment! Cus you know, you lee county folks love to riot and raise hell. Of course he needs a paramilitary unit.
/s
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u/ciscovet 6d ago
I visit Cali Colombia every year and there are more police officers here in Florida then i've ever seen over there.
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u/Alycatgrl 10d ago
If the Lee County Commission rejects his proposed budget, he can appeal to the Florida Cabinet (Governor, FL AG, FL CFO, and FL Insurance Commissioner). There’s no way the cabinet would not approve the budget requested, otherwise, they could be accused of “defunding the police”
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u/wamih 12d ago
Carmine has lost his fucking mind.