Watching the game from the bench

The big budget showdown with county commissioners turned out to be Sheriff Mike Prendergast’s worst nightmare.

Commissioners didn’t argue with the sheriff about his absurd 79% budget increase request. They didn’t ask him to explain his fuzzy math. Nor did they suggest a compromise.
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Prendergast would have welcomed that. He wants to mix it up with these commissioners.

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He never got the chance. 

It was much worse. While Prendergast sat in the audience, commissioners ignored him. Totally ignored him. They instead solved the problem without rancor or rhetoric — or his input. 

Talk about a statement. Let’s break it down.

We’ve discussed the sheriff’s budget issues. No one ever seems to get a straight answer from the sheriff’s office on spending. Did we hire all the deputies we’re budgeted to hire? Are we fully staffed?

Making it worse is that the sheriff has total control over his budget. Once the budget year starts Oct. 1, state law says it’s his to do what he pleases regardless of public promises.

The gap between Prendergast and commissioners has only widened in recent weeks, timed coincidentally with the sheriff taking a public opinion dive over his handling of Andy Lahera’s employment status.

When Prendergast stated last month that commissioners wanted to “defund police” with a specific property tax for the sheriff’s office that signaled common political rhetoric had gone out the window, and we were headed into scorched earth territory.

So, it was hardly a shock that the sheriff would request a $71 million budget — 79% over what he has now.

It was a political ploy. He anticipated it'd be DOA, and then he could tell citizens that commissioners don't care about law enforcement.

Commissioners called his bluff, and then some. 

They seemed to know Prendergast was never serious to begin with, so they took matters into their own hands.

Now. I’ve been around here a day or two. Commissioners generally provide professional courtesy to elected officials in the audience, both in moving them up on the agenda and making sure they have the chance to speak.

Neither happened Tuesday.

Prendergast and his team arrived around 1:30. They then waited. And waited.

He sat in the back row (my row!) for two-plus hours scrolling through his phone to pass the time while commissioners plodded through their agenda.

Finally, budget talk. Commissioners easily dispatched the other constitutional officers whose budget requests were normal, and then got to the sheriff.

Who continued to sit in our row, waiting for a call-up to the microphone that never came.

Instead, commissioners figured it out themselves. It took about 10 minutes. Give the sheriff enough money to hire 10 new deputies — about $1.9 million — and if he can’t prove next year that he did that, yank back the funding. Easy peasy.

It’s a brilliant political move on the board’s part. Answers the call for new deputies at a budget number that’s workable. And totally removes Prendergast from the process.

Hope you're reading that for what it is: Citrus County commissioners bypass our sitting sheriff on significant community budget matters because he simply refuses to participate without behaving like a spoiled child.

— Commissioner Diana Finegan's over-the-top emotional appeal to keep a baby box out of the Rock Crusher Road fire station netted exactly zero support from her colleagues.

"I’m sick about this,” she said right before the 4-1 vote, then dramatically added “I’m washing my hands,” rubbing her hands together for full effect.

This is what I wrote in my notes:

“I’m reminded that Commissioner Finegan is 31 months into a 48-month term in office and has not offered up a single initiative for her district."

But she’s sick about baby boxes. Priorities, anyone?

— The folks from Inverness Villages 4 begged for a workshop. They say they might have someone to fix their roads in passable condition, but they need the county to OK it.

Chairman Holly Davis has been steeped in this mess for three years, so she may believe the matter has run its course. Her colleagues, though, are in the dark about the details, and all four said they want to hear more from residents. A workshop is the logical next move.

That community is days away from washout season. No time now to throw in the towel.

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