Broward County FY26 Budget Workshop – May 13, 2025
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Broward County FY26 Budget Workshop – May 13, 2025
The Broward County Commission held a budget workshop on May 13, 2025, to review the FY26 budget proposals from the Supervisor of Elections and the 17th Judicial Circuit (Chief Judge), followed by a discussion of commissioner priorities. The workshop highlighted significant budget pressures from uncertain state and federal funding, rising costs, and the need to balance public safety, affordable housing, and other community needs.
Supervisor of Elections Budget Presentation
- Proposed Budget: $31.1 million total, comprising $18.5 million for administration and operations (a 6.6% increase over FY25), $305,400 for the March 2026 municipal election, $11.7 million for the August 2026 primary election, and $689,000 in capital equipment.
- Key Drivers: Eight new part-time positions (4 FTEs) for election worker recruiting and scheduling; a 4% salary increase for existing positions; a 17% increase in group insurance; new Creole translation services; and full security costs for the SOE facility moving into the SOE budget.
- Capital Items: Four vehicles, four printers, two scanners, a paper counter, and server upgrades; scanners and servers were delayed from FY25.
- Discussion: Commissioner Udine requested a true-up of costs between the March and August elections, questioning the high August budget ($11.7 million vs. $8.7 million actual in 2024) and noted potential “fat” in software maintenance and translation costs. Supervisor Scott defended the budget, citing unpredictability and a track record of returning unspent funds (e.g., $2 million returned from the 2024 primary). Commissioner Gillard asked about new positions during an off-cycle; Scott explained they are needed for new petition drive administrative requirements. Commissioner Fisher and others praised the SOE team but raised concerns about the new building’s maintenance issues (HVAC, elevators, water fountains), which county facilities staff said are being addressed under warranty.
Chief Judge and 17th Judicial Circuit Budget Presentation
- Proposed Budget: Under $8.5 million, with routine requests for general fund, team court fund, court cost fund, and JIS fund (IT). New requests include:
- JIS fund: network overhaul, targeted salary increases for four tech staff, and an alternative evidence presentation system for the North Building (criminal courtrooms).
- Mental health court: $75,000 for a peer support specialist and $7,000 for bus passes.
- Family Court Services (new program): $1 million+ for 19 positions (manager, navigators, investigators, supervised visitation observers, etc.) to provide trauma-informed services for domestic relations cases, including referrals, monitoring, and accountability.
- Discussion: Vice Mayor Bogan strongly criticized family court judges for not holding parents accountable for disparagement and said he would not fund the new program unless judges take stronger action. Judges Hope Bristol and Lauren Alperstein defended the bench, explaining that contempt is not always the best solution and that the new services would help address compliance. Commissioner Rich suggested redirecting the request to the Children’s Services Council (CSC) and other funders; the county administrator offered to bring the proposal to the funders forum. Several commissioners expressed support for the concept but noted the extremely tight budget year, with Commissioner Udine suggesting reprioritizing within existing court funding. Commissioner Davis proposed a pilot program at lower cost. No vote was taken, but an agreement to explore partnerships with CSC and the behavioral health coalition was reached.
Commissioner Priorities for FY26
Each commissioner presented their top priorities for the upcoming budget:
- District 1 (Senator Geller): West Broward Cultural Center (Young at Art) – additional funding beyond the $18 million already allocated; Coca-Cola building interior rehab; continued support for Film Lauderdale; and a robust bus system over expensive rail projects.
- District 2 (Commissioner Bogan): Health care (L-Care program) – noted 62% of 5,400 scans found needed care; no additional funding requested; also supported the Broward College Gap program.
- District 3 (Commissioner Udine): Cutting the millage rate, reducing county spending, and questioning the effectiveness of affordable housing gap financing; argued that increased supply is the only solution and that current policies may be pushing prices up.
- District 4 (Commissioner Fisher): Maintaining the 90/10 split of CRA funds for affordable housing; continued public safety support; transportation (commuter rail on the east side); microgrant program for small businesses; beach renourishment; and cultural arts (Save-A-Lot Cinema).
- District 5 (Commissioner Davis): Solid waste education using funds from the Waste Management host charge – proposed $20,000 per district for grassroots recycling education.
- District 6 (Mayor): Affordable housing (including homeownership), resilience planning (keeping pace with the CSC/CSF study), environmental education (Underwater Broward), parks and libraries maintenance, and biosolids management. Noted the need to prepare for the BSO budget request and potential bridge/tunnel decisions for the commuter rail.
- District 7 (Commissioner Davis): Focus on affordable housing (senior special assessments, legal aid for foreclosures), financial capability programs, and homeownership options; also requested increased microgrant funding.
- District 8 (Commissioner McKenzie): Affordable housing (senior projects, land acquisition), homelessness (more consistent outreach and services), and arts/culture activation in parks.
- District 9 (Commissioner Rogers): Workforce development in STEM and aviation/marine, health care business summit for small businesses, non-emergency transportation improvements, and affordable housing for seniors.
Key Outcomes and Next Steps
- No formal votes were taken. The budget proposals and commissioner priorities will inform the FY26 budget development.
- SOE Budget: Commissioner Udine’s requests for a true-up of election costs and a review of August primary line items will be addressed by OMB.
- Family Court Services: County Administrator Monica Sparrow will coordinate with the funders forum, Children’s Services Council, and behavioral health coalition to explore alternative funding or a pilot program. Chief Judge Phillips will provide a prioritized list if needed.
- BSO Budget: Sheriff’s budget request of an additional $80 million in recurring operating dollars will be presented on June 3, 2025.
- Upcoming Dates: June 1 – Property Appraiser budget submission; June 3 – hearings on property appraiser, water/wastewater, and BSO; June 17 – general fund recommendations; July 15 – recommended budget due; August 19 and 26 – additional workshops; September 4 and 17 – public hearings on the FY26 budget.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. Um budget season. It is it has arrived. It has arrived. This is important because it's actually determines uh we get to show where our values are. And that's what budgets do. Um today we are going to be first of all, commit both Commissioner Bogan and Commissioner Davis are on remote. But they can hear us and we can hear them. And they will be um weighing in as well. Today we're going to be hearing from the supervisor of elections and from the um from the courts. Um with that, I think we can go ahead and get started. So good morning, mayor and uh commissioners. Um today we have on the agenda um a supervisor of elections um overview. Um the new chief judge will be joining us shortly to discuss uh the court's uh priorities and how they interface with um our our general fund uh budget. And then, of course, we're gonna round out the um discussion today with uh commissioner priorities. Um the materials were sent out to you on Friday. You um have received um two substitute pages um for the supervisor of elections presentation last night. Um it did not change, just to reiterate um it did not change any of the the totals or the percentages but just some some details on on some of the lines. But um, we're gonna go through that. Um everything's been uploaded correctly online and in front of you, um, and certainly um uh with uh what the public will see. Um so I'm going to ask uh Dave McKenzie from budget office to to walk us through um the slides here for the supervisor of elections, and um we can then um come back to me and and then um um supervisor Scott uh and Ms. Hall are here to answer questions. They will not have a separate presentation. Thank you, Dave. Thank you, Monica. Uh good morning, Mayor, Commissioners. Uh, I'm David McKenzie from the Office of Management and Budget, and I'm here with you this morning to present the FY26 budget proposal for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections. Uh we'll begin this morning with uh summary overview of the summary totals of the four components that are included in the supervisor's FY26 budget proposal. Uh for their administration operations, the proposal is 18.5 million for FY26. The March 2026 municipal election is 35,400. The August 2026 primary election is uh proposed at 11.7 million, and the capital equipment proposal is 689,000 for a total proposed budget of 31.1 million. Focusing in first on the overview of the supervisor's administration and operations proposal for all items excluding the voter list maintenance. Uh the proposed budget for administration and operations is 17.3 million, which is a 6.6% increase over the prior year. We do have the individual detail of that change prepared for you on the next slide. Uh for the voter list maintenance item, the FY26 proposed amount is 1.16 million, uh, which is a 5% increase, uh bringing their total request for this function to uh to a six and a half percent increase over the prior year at a total of 18.5 million dollars. The detail I mentioned of the proposed year-to-year changes in the administration operations budget is shown here. Uh salaries are proposed to increase at 9% over the prior year. That includes eight new part-time positions or four full-time equivalents that will be assisting with the recruiting and scheduling of election workers. Uh benefits overall, uh, as well as a four percent increase uh in salary for existing positions. Uh benefits overall is a 12% increase over the prior year with group insurance being the largest driver for them at a 17% increase. Uh contractual services has a proposed increase of 9%, which includes funding for a new creole translation service. The increase in software maintenance is partly due to a contingency amount for the potential unavailability of grant aid in the coming year, as well as a vendor change in the registration and election software provider, which is also a contributing factor to the decreases that you see proposed for equipment maintenance and office equipment. Uh the security change represents a transitioning of the full cost of securing uh the supervisor's facility into the supervisor's budget for FY26 as a portion uh of that expense had been budgeted in the county's facilities management division during FY25. Uh the remain uh there's also an item that is not on here, not came to uh the supervisor very recently regarding Johnson controls and expense for that facility that will increase the proposed amount here by sixty thousand dollars uh for FY26. The remaining items are normal changes and regular activities, and the net total of all changes is approximately 1.1 million dollars. The March 2026 municipal election request of 305,400 is based upon the six municipalities that have notified the SOE of their intent to hold an election in March. Those cities will obviously reimburse the county for 100% of the cost of those elections, and the six municipalities that may be participating are Hillsborough Beach, Lauder Hill, Lazy Lake, Lighthouse Point, Hembro Pines, Districts 1 and 4, and C Branch Lakes. The detail of the March municipal election request is provided on the screen. Uh and it includes items like salaries and benefits, communication expenses, postage, printing costs, among others. The August 2026 primary election request of 11.7 million does not include any expenses for potential recounts and is based upon the supervisor's projected turnout of 25%, with that figure being an increase over the 2024 turnout in August, which was 17 and a half percent.
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