Scott Israel is trying to destroy BSO, in his own words

BSO contracts: Broward cities face steep price increases for sheriff's services - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

One by one, the cities that use Broward Sheriff's Office for law enforcement and firefighting are facing a painful financial reckoning.

Prices for those BSO services are rising across the board, in some cases more than 10 percent. The new sheriff says he's adjusting contracts that have been out of whack for years, not reflecting true costs. Some cities, facing increases of $1 million or more, are considering reducing services.

At least two cities are examining whether it makes financial sense to terminate BSO in favor of a cheaper deal with another agency. In a third city, a citizen initiative has begun to get rid of BSO.

Sworn in eight months ago, Broward Sheriff Scott Israel expressed no angst over the threat of losing cities, saying he's not an empire builder.

"If we get bigger along the way, that's OK,'' Israel said. "If we get smaller along the way, that's OK. I just want to make sure I'm excercising the due diligence to the taxpayers of Broward County.''

Israel said some cities have been underpaying – Cooper City, West Park, Pembroke Park and Parkland, among them – and he will implement accurate pricing. In the past, cities have had contracts that capped the increase each year. In Cooper City and Parkland, for example, the cap is 5 percent. The Cooper City contract is short of actual costs by more than a half million dollars, BSO Lt. Col. Tom Harrington said.

"The contracts negotiated during [former Sheriff Al] Lamberti's tenure are unacceptable to me and Broward County,'' Israel said. "We're not jacking up any prices. We're not looking to make money. We're not looking to lose money.''

The increases Israel is seeking from the cities — about $35.8 million in total — are in addition to the $17.1 million budget increase he's expected to get from the county to pay for countywide services. Broward commissioners rejected his earlier, larger requests, and he's in the process of making cuts now.

City managers are scheduled to meet with Israel on Sept. 9 to work through the bumpy transition, including discussing Israel's demand to have more say in who the "chiefs" in the cities are. Some still have questions about the pricing.

"It has nothing to do with Sheriff Israel,'' Dania Beach City Manager Bob Baldwin said. "It has to do with the cost of the product they're providing. It's getting very expensive.''

This year, Dania Beach was hit with a 13.8 percent increase over last year's contract, he said. Baldwin asked that $1.5 million be cut. The result is a proposed nine-person reduction in staff, taking one employee off the EMS trucks. That plan is not supported by the firefighters' union. The city is seeking a grant to pay the salaries, Baldwin said, but the money wouldn't be available immediately.

Oakland Park also was quoted a "major increase'' in price by BSO, City Manager John Stunson said. The $900,000 addition, a 7 percent increase, is about the amount the city's proposed tax increase would bring in.

The rising costs are driven largely by BSO's higher prices for employee health insurance, pensions and raises. Deputies are slated to get 2 percent cost-of-living raises, on top of 5 percent "step'' increases some deputies are eligible for.

That's much more than employees of Oakland Park are getting, Stunson noted, saying it was "a little bit concerning to us.''

Commissioners there have "lots of questions,'' Stunson said, and the sheriff is coming to address the commission Wednesday.

Tamarac got a quote that was "higher than the city was willing to accept,'' city manager Ambreen Bhatty said. The contract is still under negotiation, but Tamarac has agreed to leave four law enforcement positions unfilled, so "there will not be a reduction in the number of patrol officers on the street.''

Deerfield Beach leaders voted recently to hire someone to figure out whether BSO's budgets for police and fire make sense—or whether they're inflated and the city could get by more cheaply on their own.

Together, Deerfield's fire and police contracts are set to go up by about $3 million next fiscal year, a 6.7 percent increase.

Even with the higher price tag, 10 fire department positions, "mostly vacant and administrative,'' would be cut, said city spokeswoman Rebecca Medina.

Deerfield merged its fire department with BSO two years ago, and projected savings of at least $1.6 million a year.

Let me get this straight. The Sheriff doesn't care about the contract cities but he does care about the Homeless population. Holly crap we are all doomed and I voted for this guy.

Let me get this straight. The Sheriff doesn't care about the contract cities but he does care about the Homeless population. Holley crap we are all doomed and I voted for this guy.

Let me get this straight. The Sheriff doesn't care about the contract cities but he does care about the Homeless population. Holley crap we are all doomed and I voted for this guy.

That's not what I read, what I read was that Sheriff Lamberti was subsidizing the city contracts with County funds which is illegal. The Sheriff is trying to end this Corporate Welfare and bring the contracts in line with the actual cost of the services being provided and oh yes actually complying with state law something apparently the prior administration failed to do!!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-bso-cities-dispute-20130831,0,7781630.story

Let me get this straight. The Sheriff doesn't care about the contract cities but he does care about the Homeless population. Holley crap we are all doomed and I voted for this guy.

That's not what I read, what I read was that Sheriff Lamberti was subsidizing the city contracts with County funds which is illegal. The Sheriff is trying to end this Corporate Welfare and bring the contracts in line with the actual cost of the services being provided and oh yes actually complying with state law something apparently the prior administration failed to do!!

Thanks Ron... earning that big paycheck huh :devil:

Let me get this straight. The Sheriff doesn't care about the contract cities but he does care about the Homeless population. Holley crap we are all doomed and I voted for this guy.

That's not what I read, what I read was that Sheriff Lamberti was subsidizing the city contracts with County funds which is illegal. The Sheriff is trying to end this Corporate Welfare and bring the contracts in line with the actual cost of the services being provided and oh yes actually complying with state law something apparently the prior administration failed to do!!

Thanks Ron... earning that big paycheck huh :devil:

Thank Jenne not Lamberti. Jenne wanted an empire and wheeled and sealed to get the cities. While this was great for BSO and for the municipal guys too it was done because Jenne could do it, he was a powerful political figure and he could get what he wanted from the county commission until he crashed and burned.

Here is the real scam.

Good Sheriff may be reallocating the 'true' costs to the contracts he has on his books, however his overhead costs from his bloated bureaucracy and political humps are included in these expenses getting passed on to each of the cities in the form of management expenses.

So in reality besides ending subsidies in order to have a larger empire ( several past Sheriffs have been inspired. Not only the last one), the Sheriff is trying to actually get money from several other places besides the lame commission. They said no to your boy.

Now the cities are as well.

So yes, perhaps the Green and Whites will return to their roots of unincorporated patrol.
And this will be a good thing.

It was 100% Jenne that did this with smoke and mirror prices. Lamberti had no fault here. If I remember correctly, there were no mergers under Lamberti, except for a few cities wanting fire rescue services.

Isreal----The change YOU wanted is single handed destroying this agency. At the end all that will be left are the jails and the court, and District 5. Maybe the county will take the airport and port everglades back too. Wait and see if the contract cities form their own PD's or if the state says they can regionalize on their own. Good job Isrealites!!!! You voted for him, slammed Lamberti and every other candidate, and destroyed BSO and our careers in the process. Time for this buffoon to go!!!! Anyone want to start a recall petition?

Here is the real scam.

Good Sheriff may be reallocating the 'true' costs to the contracts he has on his books, however his overhead costs from his bloated bureaucracy and political humps are included in these expenses getting passed on to each of the cities in the form of management expenses.

So in reality besides ending subsidies in order to have a larger empire ( several past Sheriffs have been inspired. Not only the last one), the Sheriff is trying to actually get money from several other places besides the lame commission. They said no to your boy.

Now the cities are as well.

So yes, perhaps the Green and Whites will return to their roots of unincorporated patrol.
And this will be a good thing.

A good thing?????And how many green and whites do you think we need in central Broward and US27? Gee dumb azz maybe every green and white in all the cities can come over to District 5. We will have more deputies then residents.

How is true pricing a bad thing or "destroying" BSO? Sounds like he's doing the right thing this time. I'm non-political. I don't care who is sheriff so long as I can do my job. What I read is that contract cities are to pay their true costs, and that the cities either want jobs eliminated or COLA/step raises axed. Israel is trying to fund the COLA/step raises. On this fight, I'm with Israel. (And I'd have said the same if the article had read Lamberti everywhere it reads Israel.). Blind hatred for either side loses objectivity.

How is true pricing a bad thing or "destroying" BSO? Sounds like he's doing the right thing this time. I'm non-political. I don't care who is sheriff so long as I can do my job. What I read is that contract cities are to pay their true costs, and that the cities either want jobs eliminated or COLA/step raises axed. Israel is trying to fund the COLA/step raises. On this fight, I'm with Israel. (And I'd have said the same if the article had read Lamberti everywhere it reads Israel.). Blind hatred for either side loses objectivity.

I agree with two exceptions.

1) You can't invoke Lamberti in your excuse about the contracts and then claim this is a non-political issue.

2) Sheriff Israel is the chief law enforcement officer in the county. His PRIMARY function is public safety. Maybe, he should worry about all these cities who are agreeing to cut back positions more, and worry about filling his community involvement dirty dozen positions he is doing for political paybacks. Hell, there is 1.1 million right there, that takes care of Oakland Parks dilemma.

It is not the "out of whack" contracts stopping our cola and merit raises. It is the wasteful spending done by the administration.

How is true pricing a bad thing or "destroying" BSO? Sounds like he's doing the right thing this time. I'm non-political. I don't care who is sheriff so long as I can do my job. What I read is that contract cities are to pay their true costs, and that the cities either want jobs eliminated or COLA/step raises axed. Israel is trying to fund the COLA/step raises. On this fight, I'm with Israel. (And I'd have said the same if the article had read Lamberti everywhere it reads Israel.). Blind hatred for either side loses objectivity.
What part you don't get. There will be no employees to fund Colas And pay increases :roll:

It was 100% Jenne that did this with smoke and mirror prices. Lamberti had no fault here. If I remember correctly, there were no mergers under Lamberti, except for a few cities wanting fire rescue services.

Isreal----The change YOU wanted is single handed destroying this agency. At the end all that will be left are the jails and the court, and District 5. Maybe the county will take the airport and port everglades back too. Wait and see if the contract cities form their own PD's or if the state says they can regionalize on their own. Good job Isrealites!!!! You voted for him, slammed Lamberti and every other candidate, and destroyed BSO and our careers in the process. Time for this buffoon to go!!!! Anyone want to start a recall petition?

This HAS been done before when the cities formed MIU. It was very successful and at the time, served its purpose to break ranks from the Sheriff of the Peeples. :devil:

Watch, if the cities actually want to do this, it will happen and it will probably result in better services for the cities than this money grab to maintain the current contracts.

Let me get this straight. The Sheriff doesn't care about the contract cities but he does care about the Homeless population. Holley crap we are all doomed and I voted for this guy.

Relax, once you leave the employment category you will fall into the homeless category and everything will be fine! As Scotty says, It's a Win Win!! Everybody Happy! :D

Well there you have it in the sheriffs own words he doesn't care about us. Why should he's getting his money and so are his friends that he brought over. The sheriff and his friends already have pensions from other police departments so this is just gravy money for them. The statement about him caring about the tax payer is bull shit if cared about that he wouldn't have hired all of these political pay backs. This is by far the worst sheriff this county has ever had.

Israel is playing a numbers game. Lets talk about Israel's "true costs". The cities pay for their chief and the deputies in the district with regionalizing some detective functions and training functions. The detective functions could be assumed in every district with what they already have (except LBS and SWR). Training could be done at the academy. That just leaves the crime scene/crime lab. FDLE provides lab services for free. That leaves the cities with only the crime scene function that they are not currently paying for.

Now what the cities are paying for under Israel (command structure over the level of chief) so they are paying for a portion of a few Majors, Lt Colonels, Colonels, and Directors. Not to mention all of the civilians.

If BSO were to lose all of the contract cities, BSO would be an agency of less about 40-60 police officers and 30 fire rescue personnel and detention.

The good news would be that there would be no need for all of the majors, captains, colonels, directors and external affairs.

BSO would patrol what's left of district 5 until that's all annexed, the port and airport (unless the county creates a port police Ilene Lieberman floated that idea during cochran's reign), and US 27, serve process and control the jail and courthouse. Not an agency that I'd want to work for.... The good news in that would be the budget would get comparatively small. BSO would go from 6000 to 2000. And mostly jailers.

Sounds great to me! Make it happen! At the end of the day "what would be left" as you describe it is the sheriff's primary responsibilities as described in the Florida Constitution. Don't believe me? Look it up. All of the perceived "law enforcement" functions that we have all frown to know is really all fluff created by previous sheriff's in order to expand their span of control withing the county. At the end of the day your fear is what a sheriff's office is exactly supposed to be and designed to be according to the Florida Constitution. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

Let me get this straight. The Sheriff doesn't care about the contract cities but he does care about the Homeless population. Holley crap we are all doomed and I voted for this guy.

Relax, once you leave the employment category you will fall into the homeless category and everything will be fine! As Scotty says, It's a Win Win!! Everybody Happy! :D

I tried to call scotty today only to learn he and his family went on another cruise! Go figure, I guess it's because it's a holiday weekend! :oops:

I tried to call scotty today only to learn he and his family went on another cruise! Go figure, I guess it's because it's a holiday weekend!

I'm calling BS on this one. You knew this because the sheriff changed his voicemail to say "I'm away on another cruise." Yeah, right!

I tried to call scotty today only to learn he and his family went on another cruise! Go figure, I guess it's because it's a holiday weekend!

I'm calling BS on this one. You knew this because the sheriff changed his voicemail to say "I'm away on another cruise." Yeah, right!

He isn't on any cruise. Sheriff visited our church this morning so I know for a fact he is in town this holiday weekend.

Shhhh............

We should not speak of the "Big Secret". The one where personnel get pulled almost daily from cities and cities are not credited for the time away. When questioned, bosses say that it all works out in the end. Is that true? Do deputies constantly get pulled from some cities to help elsewhere? We all know the answers, but nobody wants to say it out loud.

I tried to call scotty today only to learn he and his family went on another cruise! Go figure, I guess it's because it's a holiday weekend!

I'm calling BS on this one. You knew this because the sheriff changed his voicemail to say "I'm away on another cruise." Yeah, right!

He isn't on any cruise. Sheriff visited our church this morning so I know for a fact he is in town this holiday weekend.

Church?? I thought he was Jewish? :oops:

Thank you Sheriff Israel for finally addressing the subsidizing of contract cities via the general fund and not just throwing DOD under the bus.You are the first Sheriff in the history of BSO to address this issue. The contract cities have never paid the full amount of money required to run their cities. They have been subsidized for years with county money from the general fund. Year after year Lamberti offered up DOD and most of the civilian employees of this agency in order to save his Contract Cities. It's nice to see that DLE and Fire Rescue have some skin in the game for a change. Welcome to our world, now you know how it feels!!!

Thank you Sheriff Isreal for destroying the morale throughout BSO. Thank you for destroying the relationship with the contract cities. Thank you for destroying the relationship with the county commission. Thank you for hiring all of the current top brass and overpaid political losers. Thank you for hiring Hollywood PD and FT. Lauderdale PD friends and moving them to specialized units. Thank you for all you have done to your employees!!!!

It takes a lot to destroy an agency in 8 months. Now do one more thing that we will thank you for.....RESIGN!

"If we get bigger along the way, that's OK,'' Israel said. "If we get smaller along the way, that's OK. I just want to make sure I'm exercising the due diligence to the taxpayers of Broward County.''


That is the only responsible thing to do. BSO does not control contract cities (unlike what Scumberti thought). If contract cities want to go back, then BSO should help them achieve that. After all, citizen elect Scumberti, Gillette, Frey, Cavallo, and Sudler all need jobs. LOL

[Unregistered]

This guy is well on his way to taking this place down. The 5th floor trash has been creeping south from floor to floor and headed into D11 for a final pit stop.
Hope your happy SI you POS.

[Ricardo A Tubbs]

Shut up Dumb azz. I guess if you just throw up stupid posts without any explanation or validity, we should just say "oh yea he's right". This place is a million times better than it has been in the 20 years I've been here. Sorry 28 you'll have to try harder to get people to jump on the bandwagon of that idiot Lamberti. Hahahaha. Dumb azz

[Unregistered]

Maybe these cities should do a, study on the good ole boy system that just awards friends big pay raises?

[Unregistered]

Shut up Dumb azz. I guess if you just throw up stupid posts without any explanation or validity, we should just say "oh yea he's right". This place is a million times better than it has been in the 20 years I've been here. Sorry 28 you'll have to try harder to get people to jump on the bandwagon of that idiot Lamberti. Hahahaha. Dumb azz

Tubboo. You really are like some stupid parrot boy with your nose so far up SI's AZZ that you cant see. Take a break from the AZZ view little guy. I'm sure with all your AZZKISSIN that a good old knee BBJ from your Code out G would do just fine and satisfy you both since that seems to be what both of you are good for.

[Unregistered]

Whazamatta Tubbo? Something got hold of your tongue?