St. Lucie Sheriff Keith Pearson seeking big budget increase for his office

Less than six months into his interim stint as St. Lucie County sheriff, Keith Pearson has found a bunch of new ways to spend taxpayers' money.

Earlier this month, Pearson submitted a written budget proposal to the St. Lucie County administrator, county budget director and chair of the St. Lucie County Commission.

Pearson is proposing about a $9 million increase to the sheriff's office's overall budget next year, from about $96.6 million to $105.7 million.

A $9 million increase, if funded solely through a property tax hike, would translate into almost 27 cents extra per $1,000 of assessed property value. For a property with an assessed value of $177,200, that would be more than $47 added to a tax bill.

For some reason, Pearson's bottom-line proposal doesn't include inmate medical expenses, which were budgeted for $6.5 million this year. In one section of his budget notes, Pearson appears to be suggesting the inmate medical expenses could be less than half that amount, although there's no accompanying explanation for why he might believe that.

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One big-ticket item driving the increase is a proposal to add $6,000 to the salary of everyone working for the sheriff's office.

"With continued inflation and the rising cost of living in St. Lucie County, the Sheriff's Office faces challenges with recruitment and retaining its workforce," Pearson wrote in a May 1 letter to Cathy Townsend, the commission's chair. "In my proposed budget, sworn and civilian personnel will received a $6,000 increase across the board."

As usual, Pearson didn't respond to a request to answer questions about his budget, although his spokeswoman, Tonya Woodworth, acknowledged receiving the request Tuesday morning.

There are specific line items within the budget proposal that raise questions, including why Pearson wants spending for the "capital outlay, other" category to increase from $129,000 to $1,295,086 next year.

In his letter to Townsend, Pearson mentions two new vans, one for crime scene analysis and another for prisoner transport, and new radios among his planned capital expenses.

Pearson would get bigger raise than his employees

Under his proposed budget, Pearson would be due for a healthy salary boost next year, too.

State law sets the salary amounts for sheriffs, based on the population of the counties they serve. Under a recent revision to the law, the St. Lucie County sheriff's salary automatically increased from $199,348 to $211,732 last Oct. 1, a couple of months before Pearson took office, with an additional bump to $238,435 scheduled to take effect July 1.

That doesn't necessarily mean the county commission will approve Pearson's budget request, or even that he will be around next year to oversee the office's operations.

Commissioners may approve, reject or alter Pearson's budget proposal, although state law gives the sheriff the right to appeal that decision to the Florida Cabinet.

Townsend expressed skepticism about the proposal.

"No, I don't think those are reasonable numbers," Townsend said. "I think they're out of line. I'm looking forward to the budget workshops because I have questions for him."

Was Pearson trying to play political hard ball?

Erick Gill, the county's communications division director, said the other four commissioners may not have seen copies of the budget proposal yet.

"It is very early in the process to develop a position on the preliminary budget submittal from the sheriff," Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky responded by email in response to an inquiry about Pearson's request. "The BOCC (Board of County Commissioners) has much to consider given the other constitutional offices and the court system will soon be submitting their budget requests before we get to develop an educated view or position on the matter. Furthermore, we have not gotten a good projection of the anticipated tax roll submission from the property appraiser."

Other commissioners didn't respond to inquiries about Pearson's proposal prior to the publication deadline for this column.

The county commission typically approves the county's operating budgets, including the sheriff's, in the fall. Pearson, who was appointed to the sheriff's post by Gov. Ron DeSantis last December under suspicious circumstances, will have to win the August Republican primary and the November general election to keep the seat.

During one of her initial conversations with Pearson about the budget, Townsend said she felt like the interim sheriff was trying to bully her to win her political support for the proposed increase.

Townsend is the founder and a board member for Independence Classical Academy, a charter school in Fort Pierce. The sheriff's office provides a school resource officer to assist with security at ICA, just as it does at other charter schools.

According to Townsend, Pearson implied he might have to charge ICA more for the school resource officer's services if he doesn't get the full amount requested in his budget.

Typically, the sheriff's office and schools split the costs associated with the school resource officer program. Townsend said Pearson threatened to charge ICA the full amount, rather than the usual half.

"He (Pearson) said, 'I know you're involved in ICA,' " Townsend recalled. " 'If I don't get this budget approved, I won't be able to do that (cost sharing).' "

Townsend said Pearson's intent in bringing up ICA's school resource officer seemed clear enough in the context of their conversation.

"I think he was trying to intimidate me by saying if he didn't get the budget he wants, it would hurt the school," Townsend said.

Do voters want a bully in the sheriff's office?

Pearson might have a different take on how that conversation went, but again, since he didn't respond to my inquiry, how can we tell his side of the story?

Should we avoid reporting what sounds like a shakedown because the lack of cooperation from one party prevents us from telling both sides?

If what Townsend has described is accurate, it does provide a window into Pearson's political style: You either do things the way he wants them done, or he's going to punish you any way he can.

St. Lucie County voters, there are elections coming up very soon. I hope you're paying attention to all this.

This column reflects the opinion of Blake Fontenay. Contact him via email at bfontenay@gannett.com or at 772-232-5424.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Sheriff Pearson seeks large budget increase for his office next year