After battling through the lower courts since 2017, the Florida Supreme Court recently decided the Alachua County was in the right in a legal dispute with their former sheriff over moving budgeted money without approval of the county commission.
According to a report by The Gainesville Sun, former Sheriff Sadie Darnell was unhappy that her deputies did not receive raises so she moved money from the vehicle fleet expenditure line to the personnel line. Documents from the Supreme Court of Florida show that Darnell moved $840,000 between objects in the budget without county commission approval.
The commissioners then sued Darnell, who has since been replaced as sheriff after 42 years of service after losing a re-election bid to Clovis Watson Jr. Watson told The Record the the ruling was “not a concern.”
“The court’s decision does not change the way we have been operating over the past year, and we will continue to do so,” Watson said. “The goal of my administration has always been to work in collaboration with the chair and Board of County Commissioners in order to serve the people of Alachua County, unimpeded, and I am confident the Alachua County Commission shares the same vision as we move forward together."
Darnell told The Sun that she was “very puzzled” by the ruling. She explained that she transferred “a couple of hundred thousand dollars” from the vehicle fleet fund to cover there raises, as they were the only employees who did not receive raises. She said they didn’t get their raises because a former commissioner was concerned that they were arresting people for misdemeanor marijuana charges, but that these were only happening when there were other crimes committed. With everyone else in the county getting raises, she said this was “intolerable.”
Officials like Cragin Mosteller, director of communications at the Florida Association of Counties, agreed with the Supreme Court ruling. Mosteller told The Sun that the ruling confirms what the interpretation of the law has been and “re-enforces what the Legislature has already stated." Alachua County Commission Chair Marihelen Wheeler agreed.
“This is a victory for good governance,” Wheeler told The Record. “This community deserves accountability, transparency and clear communication between the county, the constitutional officers and our citizens.”