Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers’ ongoing battle over his budget escalated last week after he filed a lawsuit against the county, alleging that commissioners and the county administrator did not follow the proper procedure for denying his request.
Flowers initially requested $14.6 million in increased funding, which he later revised to $12.2 million, which he said was primarily for deputy salaries. In his final budget, the increase approved was a little over half his requested amount, at around $6.9 million.
Adam Fetterman, the attorney representing Flowers, said they believe the county did not act properly in addressing the sheriff’s budget.
“The wrongdoing comes down simply to the fact that we contend the county did not follow the statute. The statute I’m referring to is Florida Statute 30.49, which governs how the sheriff is to submit his budget and how the county is supposed to address his budget submittal,” he said. “It requires that the sheriff submit a detailed budget and that the county go through a process whereby they determine if they are going to increase, amend, modify or reduce his budget over the prior year. And that they are to make those determinations and then provide the sheriff notice of how they arrived at those decisions and what those specific decisions are.”
Fetterman highlighted a document that Flowers posted on Facebook last week alongside a video in which he criticized the commissioners.
“We then receive a letter from the county administrator with an incredible amount of detail at both the object and subobject level of how they intend to reduce the sheriff’s budget request,” he said. “Decisions like that are supposed to be made in the sunshine. And no such decisions were even discussed at the county’s budget hearings. So the question remains, how did they arrive at those numbers?”
In a statement provided to WQCS by Kathy Copeland, the county’s legislative affairs and communications manager, the county echoed what County Administrator John Titkanich said in a prepared statement last week.
“By Florida Statutes, every sheriff has the full authority to move monies within their budget as they see fit. In other words, Sheriff Flowers can fund anything he finds to be a priority, including his deputies’ salaries,” the statement read.
The statement also responded to accusations from Flowers’ Facebook video aimed at commissioners, in which he accused them of undermining law enforcement.
“It is reckless to suggest that the Board of County Commissioners is doing anything to embrace the ‘Defund the Police’ movement here in Indian River County. The mere implication is blatantly false. In fact, the sheriff has received an increase in his operating budget every year since he took office,” the statement read.
The county also provided a letter sent by Titkanich and Commission Chair Joseph Flescher, which said that because “the sheriff’s office does not currently budget at the subobject code level,” it is difficult to specify which items are to be amended, modified, increased or reduced, pursuant to Florida Statute 30.49(4).
However, court filings from the sheriff’s lawsuit claim that Flowers has “no legal requirement” to do so. Further, the documents outline the object levels used in budgeting and claim that information at the subobject level has been provided, alleging that the letter sent by the county administrator and chairman is “misleading.”
The filing also claims that because the adjustments were made by Titkanich and not the County Commission during a public hearing, the letter does not fulfill the requirements of Statute 30.49(4).
Fetterman clarified that the sheriff’s lawsuit is not a traditional one.
“It’s a lawsuit that is requesting that the courts order a government actor to take certain action that they’re required to take under statute,” he said.
Per the filing, the relief being requested is that “the County Commission should be ordered to fund the sheriff’s proposed annual budget in full,” or that the sheriff be provided “a written notice of all actions taken by the County Commission at a public hearing as required by statute to amend, modify, increase or reduce items in the sheriff’s budget” and “specify in such written notice the specific items that were amended, modified, increased or reduced, in compliance with Florida Statute 30.49(4).”
Vice Chairman Deryl Loar voiced his disappointment with the sheriff’s action.
“The sheriff’s lawsuit against the county is unprecedented and not reflective of the fabric of this community,” he said.
No court hearings on the matter have been scheduled as of writing.