Deerfield Beach commissioners met Tuesday night to decide the future of the city’s police and fire services contract with the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO), following months of tension and public debate.
The uncertainty has been at the center of a dispute between the city and Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, which began last summer after Deerfield Beach said the cost of a renewed contract was too high. Tony pushed back, arguing that additional funding was necessary, in part to cover higher wages for deputies and firefighters.
Negotiations grew heated in August, when Tony warned commissioners of the leverage held by his office. “I have the power of this office to do a lot of damage to individuals,” he said during one contentious meeting. In September, BSO Maj. Christopher De Giovanni formally asked the commission to call a special meeting to resolve the standoff.
By early January, however, Tony struck a noticeably more conciliatory tone.
“In 2025, we were at war. We both fired missiles. Today we can’t have that,” Tony told commissioners, as he offered a two-year, $39 million contract extension. He also agreed that BSO would cover the cost of a new study examining the feasibility of Deerfield Beach creating its own police and fire departments.
That proposal comes as an independent consultant’s study, released in December, found the city could save more than $8 million annually by restoring a city-run Deerfield Beach Police Department — which was absorbed into BSO in 1990 — along with its own fire services. The study cautioned, however, that the first year would be significantly more expensive due to startup and capital costs.
According to the report, “total expenditures” in the first year would exceed the current BSO contract because of non-recurring expenses. If those startup costs are amortized over time, the study concludes, a municipal model would ultimately cost less than continuing with BSO.
Tony urged commissioners to base their decision on data rather than emotion, noting the implications for roughly 87,000 residents and hundreds of first responders. “It needs to be an informed decision based upon data analytics, sound reporting, qualitative and quantitative analysis,” he said.
The looming vote has mobilized law enforcement unions. Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, BSO union president Dan Rakofsky sent a letter to rank-and-file members urging them to attend.
“If Deerfield goes its own way, it will have a net negative effect on all of us,” Rakofsky wrote.
