Damien Alvarado
•8/20/2026
LEE COUNTY (WINK) - Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno defended his agency’s spending Thursday as county commissioners weigh funding requests from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for the next fiscal year.
The sheriff used the announcement of more than 100 arrests in a major narcotics operation to make a broader argument about money: that increased spending on law enforcement is producing results.
“There’s a lot of talk recently about money and budgets,” Marceno said. “You can sit behind a keyboard and complain about the size of our budget. You can stand behind me, and you can look at what those dollars bought: fewer overdoses, more criminals in jail, and lives saved.”
“I’ll take the results over your Facebook math any day of the week,” he added.
Marceno’s comments come as Lee County commissioners work toward adopting the county’s fiscal year 2026-27 budget and consider a series of requests from the sheriff’s office.
County staff is using approximately $327.7 million as LCSO’s starting funding level for the upcoming budget. Staff said the sheriff’s Priority 1 request totals about $20 million, which, if fully funded, would bring that allocation to roughly $347.7 million.
The sheriff’s Priority 1 request totals $20,031,056, according to Lee County budget documents. It includes approximately $2.54 million for increased Florida Retirement System contributions, $2.1 million for the agency’s health plan, $1.5 million tied to lost inmate-welfare revenue, $185,000 for school resource officers at three new schools, $3.1 million for inmate medical costs and $1.7 million for maintenance and other contractual support.
The largest component is approximately $11.1 million for compensation adjustments. County budget documents say Priority 1 includes a 5% LCSO pay increase.
Marceno said Thursday that some of the rising expenses are outside his control.
“There’s also other things that I have no control over, like retirements, like medical costs, inmate medical,” Marceno said. “I have no control over that. That’s going to go up every year, and the sheriff has nothing to do with that.”
Marceno also pushed back Thursday against headlines characterizing his proposal as a request for $41 million more.
“These little headlines that people write and create just to get a little … they get the clicks, right?” Marceno said. “They put the sheriff’s name in it. ‘Sheriff wants $41 million more.’ It’s actually … it’s untruthful.”
County budget presentations show the figures surrounding the sheriff’s requests have changed as the budget process has progressed.
At an Aug. 4 budget workshop, county staff presented a $41.5 million “Fully Funded Total,” which included the sheriff’s capital request of approximately $11.38 million.
By the Aug. 19 workshop, the county’s presentation listed a $38.5 million “Fully Funded Operational Total,” while showing the approximately $11.38 million capital request separately.
The operational requests are broken into three priorities. Priority 1 totals about $20 million and includes retirement, health plan, inmate-related expenses, contractual services and compensation adjustments. Priority 2 calls for $4.3 million for 30 positions, while Priority 3 seeks $12 million for additional compensation and salary compression.
The capital request is being handled separately. County staff said it plans to revisit capital funding around December, when year-end reserves are known.
The sheriff’s full Priority 1 request has not been finalized. During budget discussions, commissioners questioned whether the county should fund the entire 5% LCSO compensation adjustment while considering smaller raises for county employees.
Commissioners discussed a possible 2.5% increase across the board, including budgeting the equivalent amount for the sheriff’s office. District 4 Commissioner Brian Hamman noted that Marceno would retain authority over his agency’s appropriation and could potentially provide a larger increase if he found the money elsewhere within his budget.
Commissioners also asked staff to calculate what a 3% increase would cost.
Marceno used Thursday’s Operation White Tide announcement to argue that previous investments in LCSO have paid off. He said commissioners previously supported additional funding that allowed the agency to double its narcotics unit as Lee County struggled with overdose deaths.
“This is what funding our agency does for Lee County, Florida,” Marceno said. “The cost of addiction is expensive. Our community is safe because we invest in our community where it matters.”
Marceno also said he wants the agency to continue growing, citing Lee County’s growth and what he described as increasing calls for service.
“I always want to expand,” Marceno said. “More people come, more calls for service, right? Our calls for service keep going up.”
Additional manpower is included in LCSO’s requests. Marceno said he plans to discuss the agency’s budget in greater detail once the process is complete.
“I will transparently go through the entire budget with anyone as soon as it’s done, completed and approved,” Marceno said.
The FY 2026-27 budget has not been adopted. Lee County commissioners are scheduled to hold a workshop on potential property tax reform impacts Sept. 1. The county’s first FY 2026-27 budget public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 3 at 5:05 p.m. The final budget public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 15 at 5:05 p.m.
