By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
The Florida DOGE task force created by Gov. Ron DeSantis to identify wasteful government spending has ordered Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony to turn over a broad set of BSO financial records dating to 2022.
Florida Bulldog obtained a copy of DOGE’s four-page May 28 letter to Tony seeking detailed information about BSO contracts, bid documents, all purchase orders and payments over $5,000, invoices, change orders, vendors and personnel costs. The letter, signed by DOGE “team leader” Eric Soskin and budget office director Leda Kelly, said the information was to be compiled by Thursday, June 11, and warned of “financial penalties” for an “untimely response.”
Tony told his staff in a Friday afternoon email that “BSO has fully complied with all the information requests and will continue to collaborate with them throughout the review process.” He also said he had volunteered for DOGE’s scrutiny. “We welcomed the opportunity to participate with DOGE to demonstrate the transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility that guide our organization,” he said.
BSO’s compliance with the state financial review comes as the sheriff has submitted a new budget request to the county of $937.4 million for 2026-27. It also comes as Tony continues to seek an additional $73.7 million from the county for the current year. He has called that a “funding gap” created when the county cut his initial $1 billion request last year.
Tony has appealed the county’s cuts to the Florida Administration Commission, chaired by DeSantis and including Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. A hearing had been set for last February but was abruptly called off. In his Friday email to staff, Tony said a hearing is still pending.
“The next possible date is September 15,” he wrote.
WHAT DOGE WANTS TO SEE
The letter from DOGE, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, sought 13 categories of BSO records, including some tied to the sheriff’s most controversial spending. They include:
- BSO’s purchase of Airbus helicopters. BSO’s aviation unit has three Airbus H125 aircraft, the most recent purchased in late 2024. The agency’s Fire Rescue division recently bought two H145 Airbus helicopters. Tony has described them as “state-of-the-art.” Last year, the helicopters were part of the budget dispute between the sheriff and the County Commission, which said Tony misspent about $15 million allocated to replace a crashed helicopter as a down payment on the three new aircraft. The county, and ultimately taxpayers, later had to pay the remaining $24 million balance.
- All contract documents for BSO’s Regional Training and Development Center. The center, largely a gymnasium where Tony regularly trains and promotes himself in social media videos, was originally estimated to cost $34 million. But after the county allowed Tony to personally oversee the project, multiple change orders helped push developer ANF Group’s construction costs to nearly $74 million by the time the center opened in July 2024. Auditors also found that BSO made $1.4 million in apparent overpayments to the Davie-based builder. Florida Bulldog also reported that ANF contributed a total of $30,000 to Tony’s political committee, Broward First.
- BSO’s active contracts with SaferWatch LLC, which makes a panic button and emergency mass-alert system popular with public officials and law enforcement. In February, SaferWatch founder and CEO Geno Roefaro was arrested in New York on federal bribery charges and is awaiting trial. Tony personally promoted Roefaro’s business and, through his political committee, accepted tens of thousands of dollars from him.
- BSO’s municipal services contracts for FY 2022-23 and 2023-24. Under previous sheriffs, BSO expanded as the police force of choice for more than a dozen municipalities and the county. Under Tony, that trend has reversed. Deerfield Beach ended its contract earlier this year, and the county is considering dropping its agreements with BSO for service at the airport and Port Everglades.
- Personnel costs for 2024-25 and 2025-26. DOGE sought full position counts by division, the share of those costs tied to municipal service contracts, copies of BSO salary studies, and the related contracts, including vendor names, contract values and scope of work. The sheriff has fought with the county for years over deputy pay. Tony says deputies are underpaid and that the result has been a steady loss of talent. The county has countered that Tony used money allocated for raises on other priorities, including BSO’s training center.
WHAT DOGE DIDN’T ASK ABOUT
DOGE did not ask about several other controversial financial matters. Among the most prominent are the gold rings, topped with a sheriff’s gold star set against an emerald-green backdrop and ringed by what appear to be small diamonds, that Tony presented to members of his executive command staff in March 2025. The sheriff has said no public funds were used to buy as many as two dozen of the rings, but he has declined to identify how and from who the rings were obtained.
DOGE also did not ask BSO to document how much Tony spends on the video crews that appear to follow him regularly, especially in the gym. Tony uses those videos, often enhanced with special effects and sound, to bolster his image and maintain a near-constant presence on Instagram and other social media platforms.
Nor does the letter indicate that DOGE will examine tens of millions of dollars in discrepancies in the lengthy budgets BSO releases each year for both police and fire rescue services. Florida Bulldog reported on those discrepancies in February.
DOGE, which this week filed a similar demand for financial records with the City of Fort Lauderdale, asked Tony for direct access to BSO’s computer system to obtain the records. “We prefer that you make available read-only electronic access to the relevant data systems to our team so that we can download information directly.”
It was not immediately known if such access was given.
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