Deerfield Beach commission presses for fiscal study as Broward Sheriff's Office seeks higher police, fire rates

City Manager Rodney Brimlow updated the Deerfield Beach City Commission on Sept. 8 about proposed contract offers from the Broward Sheriff's Office that would raise the city's police and fire costs and change how annual cost increases are calculated.

Brimlow said the sheriff's office submitted proposed fire and police contracts that would significantly increase the city's costs next fiscal year and remove existing caps on certain benefit increases. "On the fire side ... the gross change from last year to what the sheriff's office submitted to us as their request for this year is $3,900,000 increase, which is a gross increase of 11%," Brimlow told the commission. He added the fire proposal "exceeds the contractual cap by $1,100,000." On law enforcement, Brimlow said the sheriff's initial proposal would raise costs from $32.4 million to $35.7 million — a $3.3 million, 10% jump — and that, after analysis, the increase "exceeds the contractual cap by $1,200,000."

The manager said subsequent offers trimmed some of that growth; the most favorable counter the city had received on the police side reduced the gross increase to about $1.7 million (roughly 5.2%), accomplished in part through a proposed staffing reduction from 152 to 144 positions. Brimlow warned, however, that the sheriff's proposed contract language would carve out health-insurance increases and other post-employment benefits from the existing 5% annual cap and would remove the 9% cap…