VOLUME 4 ISSUE 42
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“The Hound of the Baskervilles” on stage Oct. 26-29 Pg B3
OCTOBER 20 - OCTOBER 26, 2023
Sheriff’s new budget jumps 21% as cost of public safety employees grows
Bulls on the block
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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he Marion County Board of Commissioners have approved Sheriff Billy Woods’ $159,565,348 budget request for next year, a 21.24% increase over the prior budget year. The sheriff ’s budget has doubled since he took office in 2016; the commissioners’ budget has also doubled in that same period. Woods has increased both the number of personnel and their wages since taking office. The department has grown from approximately 716 employees to 900 since Woods was elected. Of the Marion County Sheriff ’s Office’s employees, 45 are related to school safety across Marion County. However, the Marion County School District reimburses the sheriff ’s office approximately $75,000 yearly for each school resource officer. In his budget submittal letter, Woods identified several factors for the increase, some related to increased costs to maintain the jail, such as inmate medical and food, others were related to personnel costs. “As mentioned in prior years, population growth in Marion County has put our staffing levels dangerously low,” Woods wrote. “Experts for the Jail and the Law Enforcement Patrol have provided staffing studies which show we are critically low in those areas. The most significant increases to the sheriff ’s office budgets are because of the increases to staffing in each major area. With your help last year, I began the implementation of a 3-year plan to address these crucial staffing shortages. I trust the increases in this budget request are necessary to address the second year of the staffing plan.’’ Additionally, the sheriff ’s letter said he wanted to give 6.5% raise to all employees “simply to keep up with other Sheriffs Offices, Police Departments and State Agencies throughout the State.” Currently, the sheriff ’s employees’ salaries total $54,541,360. Factoring in another 25% of costs in the form of benefits and taxes- personnel costs make up approximately 42% of the agency’s budget. Approximately 25% of current employees make under $49,000; 44% make between $50,000 and $69,000; 16% make between $70,000 and $89,000; 9% make between $90,000 and $109,000; 3% make between $110,000 and $129,000; 2%, not including the sheriff, make between $130,000 and $160,000. See Sheriff ’s, page A2
Garrett Peebles, bottom right, keeps a bull moving in the ring as the bull is auctioned off by auctioneer Cracker Johnson, top, second from right, during the 68th-annual Ocala Bull Sale at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in Ocala on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.
Average price at 68th Annual Ocala Bull Sale nears $4,000 By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
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he 68th annual Ocala Bull Sale, touted as the nation’s oldest continuous graded bull sale, saw cattle producers from six southeastern states sell 65 bulls to 35 Florida-based buyers in a roughly twohour fast-paced auction.
The sale, held Tuesday at the Southeastern Livestock Pavilion in Ocala, is sponsored by the Marion County Cattlemen’s Association. The average bull sale price was $3,927, according to Wayne Brown, a member of the sale’s board of directors. Sales manager Sammie Albritton said the sale prices ranged from $2,400 to $7,900, with a Charolais bull the top seller.
Before the auction began, buyers studied bulls in stalls inside the Dave Baillie, Jr. Arena at the SELP and considered breeds including Angus, Braford, Brangus, Brahman, Charolais, Charolais Cross, Hereford, Horned Hereford, Red Angus and Ultrablack. Buyers looked at genetic information, body definition and more. See Bull, page A5
State attorney urges county commission to oppose plan to consolidate court circuits statewide By Caroline Brauchler caroline@ocalagazette.com
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tate Attorney Bill Gladson and Public Defender Mike Graves told the Marion County Commission on Tuesday that an idea under consideration to consolidate circuit courts in Florida would lead to a loss of local representation and resources. The pushback comes after the Florida Supreme Court appointed a committee in June to evaluate the idea of combining judicial circuits across the state. The committee will submit its final report on Dec. 1. “The stated purpose is to save money by having fewer circuits,” Gladson said. “I don’t think that’s accurate. I think all you would have would be fewer elected people.” The Fifth Judicial Circuit is made up of Marion, Citrus, Hernando, Lake and Sumter counties. Approximately 1.3 million people live within this circuit,
which geographically is nearly as large as the state of Connecticut, Gladson said. “I think when government moves further from the people, and it’s not closer to the people, it becomes less effective. The larger the area, the more people to serve,” Gladson said. Gladson and Graves urged the county commission to write a letter to the Supreme Court to strongly oppose the idea of consolidation. Both the State Attorney’s Office and the Marion County Bar Association have written opposition letters. Consolidating circuits could potentially expand Marion County’s judicial circuit southwest toward Tampa, north toward Jacksonville or east toward Orlando. Merging this judicial circuit with any of these heavily populated areas would give less representation to people who live in Marion and the other counties within the Fifth Circuit, Gladson said. “If a large circuit or if a large county See Circuit, page A4
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File photo: Bill Gladson on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.
“The stated purpose is to save money by having fewer circuits. I don’t think that’s accurate. I think all you would have would be fewer elected people.” Bill Gladson State Attorney
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