LOXAHATCHEE GROVES, Fla. — The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is pulling away special law enforcement services from the town of Loxahatchee Groves, a spokesperson confirmed to WPTV on Monday.
The decision stems from a payment dispute over the contract between the town and the sheriff’s office, where the town has stopped making monthly payments for law enforcement services previously agreed to in 2024.
WATCH: 'We just don't have it,' mayor said at council meeting
According to the contract, the town would pay about $700,000 a year to have at least one deputy patrolling the town of about 3,300 every shift, along with access to facilities and support services.
Anita Kane, who is the mayor and serves a coucilmember, said the cost was no longer something the town could afford.
“The bottom line is we don't have the money to fund a $700,000-a-year contract,” she said at a council meeting in December. “We just don't have it. We’ve been saying that for years and we’ve been asking for some kind of consideration.”
The cost for the sheriff’s office was once about $295,000 according to WPTV reporting in 2017. Then the cost increased to $610,000 in October 2017, resulting in an increase of the town’s millage rate. The last year on the contract would cost the town $693,628, an increase of 13.7% over the 10 years.
A spokesperson for PBSO said in an email that the town was required to establish its own municipal police department or contract with another existing law enforcement agency to be incorporated back in November 2006. She said the current contract requires the town spend less than 8% of its budget and has worked to keep costs down.
“In spite of the fact that the costs for services has increased significantly, [Sheriff Bradshaw] has only passed along minimal increases to the contract over the years,” wrote PBSO spokesperson Teri Barbera.
She also wrote that PBSO will seek any and all legal remedies available under the law.
Tracy Raflowitz, a member of Loxahatchee Groves’ Financial Audit Committee, said she believes the current town council is just against the sheriff’s office performing additional services within the town. She said this town council did have the money to afford the contract, but instead increased spending in other areas like town staff.
“We have a sitting council member saying that we can’t afford PBSO, but we can afford to give every resident a $400 rebate," Raflowitz said. “So they’re basically cutting from one area to pay another.”
WPTV reached out to each member on town council about the dispute, but we only heard from Councilmember Margaret Herzog. She declined to talk on camera, but she told us she believes PBSO is overcharging for services because other municipalities are paying less for services per person.
The current cost for each resident in Loxahatchee Groves is about $200 per person. Using various municipal records, we found the average cost per resident was higher in Greenacres, Lake Park and Lake Worth Beach. However, the per-person cost in Haverhill was about $100 per person.
A spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office told us those contracts aren’t comparable because they offer different services. For example, officials from the city of Haverhill said PBSO deputies are only hired for detail work on traffic services during certain dates and times.
