Clash of the Titans! (part 1) Return of the Sheriff

Hernando County, FL Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) Budget Hearing 9/12/24 part 1: Commissioner Steve Champion challenges the Sheriff to cut his budget as all other County Departments are alleged to have done. Naturally, this doesn't change anything in terms of the massive tax hike that will be put upon the fixed income people in the County.

Couched in the language of 'millage', which disguises the real tax increase from most of the public, the BOCC regularly claims to be reducing taxes by not taking the full amount of the authorized 'millage'. Last year they “reduced” the ‘millage’ and cut a $700,000,000+ budget by a whopping $4,000,000, which they allegedly scraped from their reserve. The BOCC then claimed that they had cut taxes even though the real increase to the public was roughly 16.5%—approximately matching the inflation rate.

If the Sheriff’s Office is doing so poorly and cannot cut, how is he able to brag about ‘investing’ his money more wisely and returning $600K to the County in dividends?