While Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony is writing to Republicans in Tallahassee, he should also be requesting that property taxes not be eliminated.
I appreciate the Sun Sentinel for distributing facts and opinions on matters that the citizens of Broward need to be aware of. I have read the Sun Sentinel since I was a kid back in 1970, as a first-grader in Delray Beach.
I moved up north to New England and New York and came back in 1987 to Deerfield Beach until 2000 when I moved to Delray Beach, and I remain a paid subscriber.
It is interesting that a Democratic sheriff is asking for help from a state government that wants to eliminate a lot of the funding under his leadership.
If Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican legislators move to reduce or eliminate property taxes — a primary source of funding for counties — then the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) could face a funding crisis, unless alternative revenue sources are provided or new funding models are implemented.
Robert K. Klemm, Delray Beach
The sheriff and his spending
Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony spent about $500,000 to put his name, image and likeness all over the new BSO training center that’s county property.
He has taken two overseas trips to Brazil and Romania with high-ranking BSO employees to teach defensive police tactics. These taxpayer-funded vacations cost tens of thousands of dollars. How does this lower the crime rate in Broward? His full-time chauffeur is a BSO captain who makes about $200,000 a year. Why?
He’s moving the office of Covert Electronic Surveillance to turn the office into a media production unit (in other words, the Greg Tony Production Unit). Fighting crime and actual law enforcement are at the bottom on his list. Why don’t we put a taxpayer-funded ATM in his living room?
Here’s the amazing part. He constantly asks Broward taxpayers for more money so he can continue to spend money on himself. You would think CFO Blaise Ingoglia would step in and do his job of tracking government waste. Why don’t county commissioners question his reckless spending?
Tony was the previous owner of Blue Spear Solutions, an emergency preparedness firm. In 2022, Tony’s wife became its owner. The company has a three-year contract with the Broward County school district to teach district employees about active shooter training.
Jerry Fuller, Coconut Creek
(Editor’s Note: The school district announced the Blue Spear Solutions contract in June and said it was at no cost to taxpayers. The district said Blue Spear is supported by AutoNation, CENTEGIX, SaferWatch, Lipton Toyota, Vaughn Sports Academy, Raptor Technologies and Hudson Capital Group.)
What happened? It’s obvious
What happened to the separation of church and state? Why do my taxes fund parochial schools?
What happened to freedom of the press, when the “Secretary of War” decides which journalists have favored status at the Pentagon?
What happened to equal justice under law when the convicted criminals of Jan. 6 are pardoned?
What happened to allow the executive branch to be used for self-enrichment?
What happened to bipartisanship? What happened to allow masked Americans to corral people on our streets? What happened to our ability to control diseases, with a misfit like R.F.K. Jr. setting health policy?
I’ll tell you what happened. It’s Trump, motivated by his enablers.
Dr. Howard Olarsch, Boynton Beach
If the shoe fits
We would not refer to President Trump as a Nazi, bigot, fascist or racist if he didn’t act that way.
Some of his underlings surely seem to think we’re back to the 1930s.
Manuel Valdivieso, Davie
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