Broward County FY27 Budget Workshop: Airport Law Enforcement, SOE Budget, Commissioner Priorities - May 19, 2026
Broward County FY27 Budget Workshop: Airport Law Enforcement, SOE Budget, Commissioner Priorities - May 19, 2026
The Broward County Commission held a FY27 Budget Workshop on May 19, 2026, to discuss three major agenda items: a study of law enforcement services at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) FY27 budget request, and county priorities identified by commissioners. The workshop featured presentations from Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony and Major Bryant Montgomery on airport overtime costs, followed by a budget presentation for the SOE, and concluded with each commissioner outlining their funding priorities for the upcoming fiscal year.
Discussion Items
FLL Law Enforcement Study and Overtime Costs
- Sheriff Tony and Major Montgomery presented on the increase in airport law enforcement overtime from $500,000 in 2020-2021 to $7.3 million currently. They attributed the rise to a BCAD (Broward County Aviation Department) decision in 2021 to staff TSA checkpoints with deputies on overtime rather than using voluntary special details.
- Major Montgomery stated that approximately 15,000 overtime hours per year are used to staff five checkpoints across four terminals, with terminals 1 and 4 requiring two deputies each due to size, operating 20 hours per day.
- The Sheriff argued that the overtime model is unsustainable and recommended hiring additional Airport Security Officers (ASOs) and law enforcement deputies, noting that ASO staffing had dropped from 55 post-9/11 to 22 currently, while Miami-Dade Airport has 125 ASOs for 55 million passengers.
- Commissioners expressed concern about running a critical operation entirely on overtime. Commissioner Rogers asked if overtime is the best use of funds; Sheriff Tony agreed it is not, advocating for full-time staffing.
- Commissioner Udine noted the existing contract dates to 1996 and needs to be updated to clarify roles and responsibilities. The Sheriff and Lieutenant Colonel Di Giovanni confirmed they had provided draft contracts to BCAD but were told to wait after the earlier workshop.
- Commissioner McKenzie raised communication issues between the Sheriff and County Administrator Monica Perra, stating he wants direct access to the Sheriff rather than through under-sheriffs. The Sheriff defended his delegation approach but acknowledged limited direct communication with Perra.
- Commissioner Fisher asked about national protocols for bomb threats; the Sheriff confirmed standard procedures would be followed by any law enforcement agency.
- No formal action was taken, but the board agreed that a new contract is needed, and staff will work on drafting updated terms.
Supervisor of Elections FY27 Budget Request
- David McKenzie (Office of Management and Budget) presented the SOE’s proposed FY27 budget totaling $37.2 million, comprising $19.8 million for administration and operations (a 7.3% increase), $16.7 million for the November 2026 general election, $438,300 for the March 2027 municipal election, and $220,000 for capital equipment.
- The admin increase includes a 4% salary increase ($311,500), a 26% increase in benefits ($824,000), and higher software and equipment maintenance costs. Security costs decreased by $180,000 due to vendor efficiencies.
- The election budget assumes a 63% voter turnout, similar to 2018 (60%), and does not include recount costs. Actual spending for the 2024 general election was $15.5 million against a $16.7 million budget.
- Supervisor Scott noted this is the fifth consecutive year with legislative changes requiring administrative adjustments, including new voter ID requirements effective January 1, 2027, and potential redistricting lawsuits.
- Commissioners asked about security, benefits costs (a 33% health insurance increase last year), and the possibility of SOE joining the county’s benefit plan. Supervisor Scott agreed to revisit that option.
- Commissioner Geller questioned the 25% increase in the November election budget compared to 2024, asking for a detailed comparison. Supervisor Scott said costs are driven by more early voting sites and uncertainty about new laws.
- No vote was taken; the request will be considered as part of the county’s overall budget.
County Priorities for FY27 as Identified by Commissioners
- Each commissioner presented their funding priorities for FY27, covering affordable housing (items #14, #33), human services (food insecurity, senior housing, youth commission), economic development (film incentives, marine research hub, small business grants), public safety (additional deputies for BMSD, tactical team), and environmental projects (mangrove preservation, biosolids management, TNR for animal care).
- Key proposals included: Commissioner Rich’s push for continued affordable housing funding (90% of expired CRAs), a homeless hotel, and support for the Area Agency on Aging; Commissioner Udine emphasized tax relief and warned against funding middle-income housing; Commissioner McKenzie focused on basic services for the BMSD (unincorporated areas), including unsafe structure demolition, park improvements, and increased police presence.
- Commissioner Fur highlighted animal care TNR needs ($2 million per year for five years), Hollywood North Beach parking lot repairs, and the Xavier Cortada underwater Broward outreach program. Commissioner Fisher supported continuing existing county services and a community association registration program.
- Commissioner Rogers stressed housing for seniors, food insecurity, and leveraging school board partnerships. Commissioner Davis proposed a Broward County Youth Commission, small-scale housing under 70 units, and a safe house program for domestic violence victims.
- The meeting concluded with commissioners circling preferred items on a list to give to the county administrator for compilation. The next budget workshop is scheduled for June 11, 2026, where consensus items will be discussed further.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken.
- The board reached consensus to pursue a new law enforcement contract for the airport, with staff directed to work with BSO on updated terms.
- The Supervisor of Elections budget request will be evaluated as part of the county’s FY27 budget process; SOE will explore joining the county’s benefit plan.
- County Administrator Monica Perra will compile a memo listing commissioner priorities that received consensus from the majority, to inform her recommended budget.
- A follow-up budget workshop is scheduled for June 11, 2026 (and tentatively June 16), where remaining items lacking consensus will be debated.
Meeting Transcript
We're missing uh here she comes in. It's a long time no C. Okay. Good morning, everybody. We got a busy day today, and uh you guys ready to start? Okay. Ready to start? Yeah. Uh based on our last um our last workshop, uh, the sheriff is here uh to address some of the issues that we talked about. We're gonna limit the conversation to the airport. And Sully to the airport. And um, and so I'm gonna give you the floor. All right. Uh first of all, good morning, and thanks for the invitation to come. I think over the last several weeks, this discussion has kind of uh led to the workshop having its meeting. You guys know if I'm not here, I watch all the meetings regardless. I listen to all the commentary, I take notes on it. What this is not going to be, and I want to be clear because I know sometimes there's a concern about is there tension, is there gonna be uh conflict? Conflict can be healthy, right? When they're talking about ideas uh and rationale behind what we're doing. I don't see this one as being a super conflict. I really appreciate it. I said on social media I put out to the media when they asked my concerns about you guys going out and doing the feasibility study. Bravo. That's the way business needs to be done. If we as elected officials and government officials are gonna make decisions on behalf of two million people and impact an airport with almost 36 million plus commuters coming through, it needs to be done through data-driven analysis. So we read the Jensen report is collectively amongst our team that we think it was a thorough first phase, but of course to their own admission. There's a great deal of more research that needs to be done, in my opinion, before this commission would make a final decision. On that, one of the things I want to start with, Mayor, if you don't mind, I'm gonna actually kind of start with something I heard you say, um, and I think is important to kind of correct some of this stuff. You know you made an inquiry as to, and I'm paraphrasing, I can't remember precise how you said it, but about how did we get to a point where the airport budget had increased by 50 percent. Uh I was informed that in the past, since 2020, and the administrator can correct me if since 2020, the airport budget has increased 50 percent. And so I to me, this is uh we're here today really uh to see how we could reduce reduce costs. Okay. And so two men that I have with me today, just to introduce them, some of you know them, some of you probably haven't had a chance to engage with them yet. To my right is Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Di Giovanni. He is the second in command of all law enforcement operations. To his right is commander or major Bryant Montgomery, who leads up responsibility for all critical infrastructures, and that's really probably one of your more closer partners in the sense that he's responsible for the airport aspect, uh the port as well as the courthouse. So I want to start with talking about that because oftentimes what I least seen from this commission, if there's an inquiry, it's because you don't have all the data in front of you or you haven't heard about it. One of the most significant things that has resulted in some of the increases is what we agreed upon, meaning this body, BSO, as well as the county and your your representatives was about the overtime implications and why have we absorbed so much. We've gone from $500,000 back in 2000 look like 20, 21 in overtime to 4.7 million dollars in overtime and then escalating up to where we're operating right now at $500,000 differential. We used to be to now $7.3 million in overtime. So how do we get there? One of the things I want to talk about is the reason we're driving so much overtime outside of the contractual stuff that was agreed upon in Major Montgomery's gonna go through this, is about manpower. For seven consistent years, I talked to this body about increasing ASOs, the airport security officers, and law enforcement uh deputies inside that facility. We haven't gotten to that point yet. But I think you see with the mathematics and when Major Montgomery started talking about this stuff, it pushes the importance of increasing manpower at the airport to include the ASOs. So I'm gonna turn this over just briefly to Major Montgomery to give you an overview on the overtime implications and how we got there, and then we can perhaps talk about potential strategies in the future to reduce that, which is probably gonna go back to my point about personnel and getting the appropriate um ASO numbers back up to what they used to be, as well as increasing the officer uh terms of volume that was required out there, especially knowing we're going to terminal five with almost 50 million people expected to go through there. Especially knowing we're going to Terminal 5 with almost 50 million people expected to go through there. So major let's just do a quick synopsis in terms of the overtime. How's that how the how you've managed that and where did it start?
openpublica.com