VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A tense Volusia County budget debate spilled onto social media this week after Sheriff Mike Chitwood publicly criticized County Chair Jeff Brower over proposed spending discussions.
In a Facebook post, Chitwood claimed Brower is seeking to remove millions of dollars from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office budget, even though the agency’s spending plan was submitted at the same level as last year with no requested increase.
Chitwood accused Brower of only offering public support for law enforcement when it is politically convenient, labeling him in the post as a “Defund the Police” county chair and saying his actions reveal where he truly stands.
The sheriff said he supports finding ways to ease the tax burden on Volusia County residents, but argued that cutting the sheriff’s office budget is not the right path to deliver that relief.
Chitwood’s post ended with a pointed message, saying that if Brower is unwilling to meet with the sheriff’s office, officials would go to him instead.
As such, Chitwood announced that he and other deputies will attend the Volusia County Council meeting in DeLand at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, where the budget cuts are expected to be discussed.
“Then Jeff can look us in the face while he pitches his latest bright idea to Defund the Police in Volusia County,” Chitwood concluded.
News 6 has reached out to Brower for comment on Chitwood’s statement. Below is his response:
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“This is not a last-minute request from me. Every year I call for a 5-10% reduction in spending. Homeowners are struggling to keep their homes. This year in January I said we need to go to rollback. We have always held first responders harmless in budget reductions.
As we anticipate the budget if Amendment 3 passes, we can no longer do that.
However, if we just go to rollback in each of our county funds, they will actually receive more money than they did in 2026 because of growth and new properties being taxed. The Sheriff’s budget has grown by $39,821,697 since 2024. That is a 30% increase.
I am simply asking every one of our funds to go to a rollback rate that would still allow them to collect more money than they did last year but holds taxpayers harmless. That means property owners would not pay more than they did last year.
In the case of the sheriff’s budget, instead of collection $9,592,432 more this year he would collect $5,581,819 MORE this year. So, it is not accurate for him to say I am cutting millions for Law Enforcement. I am supporting LEO, once again this year, with an almost $6 Million increase.
Voters will not tolerate Counties and cities passing along a tax increase this year . If we do, Amendment 3 passes and then we are not looking at a tiny 3% spending reduction. We would be deciding how many people and programs we had to cut.”
Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower
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