Call us old or call us old school but the ZZ Top/Lynyrd Skynyrd show at Hertz Arena rocked the house Saturday night.

The bill opened with Black Stone Cherry and closed with an encore performance of “Free Bird” to rousing applause and a guest appearance by Lee County’s own rock-star politician Sheriff Carmine Marceno who took the stage behind Skynyrd’s bassist to help hold a billowing American flag.

It was quite the night for fans of traditional Southern fried rock and the nouveau celebrification of public officials alike as Sheriff Marceno was available for photo opts in the lobby pre-show and for photos and handshakes with those passing by the up-front seating as well as in the stands between bands.

His entourage, including a contingent of uniformed staffers, was impressive enough to hold its own with that of the headliners.

The side show, though, was kind of like a shot of Skynyrd’s Hell House whiskey — brand building, sure, but overpriced — way overpriced — for what you’re paying for.

Not that we actually know how much personal appearances such as these – deemed “outreach” — cost as efforts to obtain numbers failed as the LCSO apparently doesn’t track them.

The Breeze asked under what budgetary line are public appearances for Sheriff Marceno, such as this one with accompanying members of the department, are funded, and whether such public appearance are tabulated.

The response: It’s part of operations.

“Sheriff Marceno and his staff receive a salary which is part of the LCSO budget. Attendance to events throughout the county are at the discretion of the Sheriff,” the agency responded.

“Members that provide community outreach services at events do so within their respective work schedules.”

The cost of the accompanying video and camera crews to publicize his appearance at such events?

“The Public Information Office is tasked with obtaining media (video and photos) and putting them on social media to highlight the Lee County Sheriff’s Office’s efforts to engage with the community.”

Ummm, OK.

Perhaps one of the bands — or all three — are huge fans and Sheriff Marceno got a personal invite.

Maybe those accompanying staffers were all in for a paid-for show and an extra detail accompanying the popular sheriff as he made his rounds.

But that’s not the point.

Certainly the bands and the sheriff can do as they wish with their time and their money.

However, the reality is that staff time always comes with a cost. Salaried staffers do not work unlimited hours and, for salaried and exempt employees alike, worked hours are compensated hours.

Peripheral duties entail a reallocation of time from core responsibilities to non-essential tasks, i.e. those that, if not assigned and performed, would not fundamentally affect the job or services provided.

As any CEO knows, in the private sector anyway, operational funds are finite — you prioritize essential duties and services in descending order knowing that allocating a few more bucks for something further down the list comes from funds that could be spent elsewhere.

In the case of the LCSO, we’re talking major money because Lee County officials and the public agree with Sheriff Marceno’s No. 1 priority which is theirs as well: To keep you, our community, safe.

A look at Lee County’s $1.7 billion budget by function shows public safety as the largest single component, comprising 21.3% with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office allocated just over half of that plus another 21.6% of the public safety share for detention and corrections.

No arguments here.

We, too, believe that public safety in all of its forms — from fire rescue and control to boots on the street for crime prevention and crime control is paramount.

But let us circle back. We are, indeed, old school, traditional fiscal conservatives — dinosaurs, we know — when it comes to public expenditures.

To us that means allocating money — down to the penny — for services with a direct benefit to those who pay the bills, the taxpayers.

To us, that means realizing that every dollar comes out of the same pot and the same pocket, in this case Lee County revenues and taxpayer wallets.

To us, that means “outreach” efforts — and money — may be better allocated to more deputies on the streets in high-crime communities and more money to the agency’s seven community outreach centers — or even left in the county’s big pot for other agencies whose efforts also serve as crime prevention such as, say, Human Services which gets a 1.8% slice of Lee County’s revenues, according to the County Budget by Function pie chart.

We will concede, though, that the personal appearances, the in-house pseudo-news interviews and the plethora of self-promotion videos do work.

Sheriff Marceno has built a public relations department, excuse us, communications department, that gives the Governor’s Office a run for our money in terms of personal promotion.

Consider: According to a Florida Politics news report about an “internal leaked poll” published in December, “Sheriff Marceno outperforms Trump by 13-points…” in Lee County where he also is popular with voters who are Democrats.

As of press time, he has no official challenger as he seeks his second term.

Our guess?

Our sad prediction?

This bird you’ll never change.

Breeze editorial