Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass referred to an investigation against Sheriff Carmine Marceno as "a big elephant in the room."
His comments came during a commission meeting Tuesday when county commissioners spoke publicly for the first time about the sheriff and the FBI investigation surrounding his office, which NBC2 reporter Dave Elias first broke back in September.
Commissioners expressed interest in allowing taxpayers to ultimately approve the sheriff’s budget. Currently, commissioners do that. Taxpayers would have to vote and approve a millage increase, much like voters do with the school district.
Hamman pointed out the sheriff’s budget makes up half of the general fund revenue, explaining the sheriff’s budget totals nearly $315 million of the county’s overall $700 million general fund budget.
“This budget has been growing at such a large pace over the last several years we've actually had to cut some other departments,” Hamman said.
He said it might be best for taxpayers to have the final say on how much the sheriff's office gets.
“I hope the people get to see that the sheriff's budget basically takes up half of their county tax dollars,” Hamman said.
The commissioners and the clerk of courts took some heat for being slow to discuss the changes.
“I know everyone wants to respond based on what's going on with the big elephant in the room,” Pendergrass told the commission. "The grand jury is going to be convened for 10 days and we're not going to know anything for a few weeks."
The county was ordered to turn over documents to the FBI after allegations of money laundering were waged against Marceno, who hasn't spoken publicly or answered questions on the matter.
While the sheriff did not directly respond to the commissioner’s tax discussions Tuesday his office did.
"As always, we will work closely with our county commissioners on all business matters,” a spokesperson said.
Sources tell NBC2 that the grand jury is meeting this week to hear what evidence the feds have gathered in their case. A decision could come any time after that.