Ritter Wants Answers About BSO's New Toys

By Thomas Francis Mon., Aug. 3 2009 at 1:47 PM

Categories: Broward, Politics

broward.org

Ritter: Sheriff Al's got some 'splaining to do.

It wasn't quite the finger-wagging sitcom scene I predicted in Friday's post, but we were right in guessing that Broward Mayor Stacy Ritter is disappointed in Sheriff Al Lamberti's choosing the flamboyant Dodge Challenger to round out his agency's fleet of cars.

Here's the note Ritter sent Juice:

While I am sure that BSO feels the need to replace vehicles in the fleet, I have to question whether or not they can squeeze a few more miles out of the vehicles they already have. Most of our cities that contract with the Sheriff are having the same budget issues that we are at the County. We need to create confidence in our residents that we are doing the best we can within our budget and if that means we are buying fewer and less expensive cars than that's what we should do.

Personally, I would like to see all county agencies, including the Sheriff, purchase fuel efficient hybrid vehicles. According to the website, the standard Challenger gets 16 mpg city and 23 mpg highway. I think we can do better. I'm sure the commission will question the purchase and, quite frankly, we should be questioning his purchases as well as our own to see if a) it is really necessary and b) can we seek less expensive/more economical alternatives.

Still waiting to hear back from Broward Sheriff's Office about the Dodge Challengers.