ABC7 fact-checks Sheriff Carmine Marceno's claims
The Lee County sheriff told a county employee during a recorded Facebook message that people are nitpicking his budget.
“They want to say your budget has increased significantly. Well, the population has exploded,” Marceno said.
The sheriff’s budget has also exploded, increasing nearly 65% since he took office in 2018.
The sheriff's budget for 2025 is costing taxpayers $315 million.
During the sheriff’s 16-minute video, the sheriff answered questions scripted by the moderator, who is one of his own employees. No media was allowed in to ask questions.
“Our budget once again gets checked two times a year. Once from CALEA and once from an independent contractor the county hires,” Marceno said.
It's important to note the independent contractor only partially reviews his budget. It's called a limited testing. An external auditor would almost never look at 100% of the expenditures, so it's not 100% accurate.
ABC7 rates the sheriff's comment as misleading.
“Most of our money in our budget goes to salaries,” Marceno said.
That's true for nearly all county offices. His personnel budget for about 1,600 employees takes a large chunk of the $315 million. Operating and capital take up the rest.
“Consultants actually save taxpayer money. We do not pay them benefits. When their job is done, we can terminate their contract and move on,” Marceno explained.
ABC7 obtained numerous contracts costing taxpayers more than $600,000 a year.
The consultants included a personal trainer for deputies totaling $129,000. Another for a dog named Otto Von Schnoodle, who serves as a county mascot. The owner, Grace Birch, was paid $93,000.
Finally, Ken Romano, a former friend of the sheriff’s, signed a $5,700-a-month contract to work as a consultant and claimed he would then funnel $1,700 a month to the sheriff's father to pay for a car.
“There are layers of supervision for consultants that handles consultants that makes certain they are doing their job they’ve been hired for, keeps them accountable, and we, of course, supervise the product,” Marceno said.
However, the contracts obtained by ABC7 do not specifically say what the contracted employees' responsibilities are, and the sheriff's contracts are "not" audited.
There is no way of telling how much each contracted employee worked for the sheriff.
Ken Romano said in a recording he was paid and only showed up a handful of times. State Sen. Lizbeth Benaquisto's contract is for $9,000 a month as a consultant and ends next month.
It's not clear how many hours she works, but we do know she is supposed to attend meetings and provide advice.
ABC7 asked the sheriff's office to make Marceno available for an interview, but an email was sent back saying the request was declined.
The FBI investigation into Marceno is ongoing.