It’s absolutely true that North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey ordered himself a brand new armored 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe Premier, which was delivered to the City only couple days ago.

Although sources told us the cost of the vehicle was approximately “only” $75K, we’re not so sure about that.

Especially since we’ve already done the research on armored vehicles and we know they cost well over $100K.

As fate would have it, we received the above photo of the actual SUV that Duke Sorey ordered for himself, courtesy of North Miami Beach taxpayers.

Let’s play Guess the Price of Duke’s New Toy.

The base price alone of a 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe Premier is $66,300.00.

If he ordered the 4-Wheel Drive, that’s another $3,000.00.  Let’s assume he did just that.

Judging by the dual exhaust pipes, we can also assume that Duke upgraded the engine and added a heater block, so let’s add another $3,020.00 to that cost.

There are a number of interior options available that cost anywhere from $75.00 for a vertical cargo net all the way up to $1,995.00 for a Rear Seat Media System, which includes dual color-touch LCD HD screens, Wi-Fi, two Bluetooth headphones, and 2 HDMI ports.

We have no way of knowing if Duke ordered any of these upgrades, so we’ll give him a rare benefit of the doubt and assume he didn’t.

Knowing how paranoid Duke is, however, we will assume that he added a Console Mounted Safe to protect his, ahem, personal valuables at an additional cost of $230.00.

We can also see that he added a super dark Reflective Window Shade for $135.00, which looks suspiciously close to a violation of Florida’s window tint law.

Or just another typical move by Scofflaw Duke.

Let’s also throw in the $500.00 Adaptive Cruise Control so Duke can ride in comfort without having to exert himself too much.

Based on the photo, it appears that Duke upgraded the wheels for another $1,995.00.

Since we only received a picture of the rear of Duke’s armored SUV, we have no way of knowing if he upgraded the front end to either the $525.00 Black Illuminated Front Bowtie Emblem or the $850.00 Black Grille with Chevrolet Lettering.

We wouldn’t be surprised if Duke did order one of them, but until we know for sure, we’ll leave it to our imagination.

However, it does looks like Duke added the available $875.00 6″ Oval Chrome Tubular Assist Steps since the base price version doesn’t include any assist steps at all.

UPDATE:  We just received a photo of the front of Duke’s car, so we will revise our estimate, as follows:

• It does not appear that the wheels are upgraded, so we can deduct $1,995.00.
• The assist steps are also standard, so deduct another $875.00 from our estimate.

The grille, however, is not the same as pictured in the Chevrolet Tahoe e-Brochure for the standard 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe Premier, but we cannot locate the price of this particular upgrade.

While we probably underestimated the vehicle’s actual cost, based on the above information, we reckon that Duke’s New Toy set North Miami Beach taxpayers back by at least $81,102.00 $78,232.00.

This price, of course, doesn’t include the cost of an armored package.

According to Armormax, “The armored car cost depends on various factors,” including the level of protection desired, the model of the vehicle, and the coverage area.

For example, “some clients choose to armor only the glass areas or the glass and the doors,” which can cost from $18,000 to $45,000.”

Bulletproof 22″ tires can cost $900.00 each, while bulletproofing the engine and floor can cost $5,000-$10,000 and $2,000-$5,000, respectively.

“The total cost of bulletproofing a vehicle can get up to $100,000.”

It’s anybody’s guess how much “protection” your gangster City Manager thinks he needs.

Then again, he does live in North Miami, so “protection” may not be a luxury.

Even if he spent the bare minimum to armor only the windows, you can add at least $18,000 to your bill, for a grand total of $99,102 $96,232!

In all probability, Duke didn’t stop there, though.

What really makes no sense at all is that Duke Sorey already had a City-owned SUV, so we have no idea why he felt the need to spend at least $100K on yet another vehicle.

According to Section 6.A.1. of Duke’s Employment Agreement, “The City agrees to provide the City Manager with a City-owned vehicle at no cost to Employee and to pay for the maintenance of said vehicle.”

Paragraph 3 of the First Amendment to Employment Agreement executed two months later, which added $27,500 a year to his already generous package, revised the original Section to read, “The City agrees to provide the City Manager with a City-owned vehicle at no cost to Employee and to pay for the maintenance of said vehicle.  Until such vehicle is provided to the City Manager, City agrees to provide City Manager with a vehicle allowance of $750 per month on a pro rata basis.”

We know that Duke was assigned a City-owned vehicle sometime before October 1, 2021 (the beginning of Fiscal Year 2021-22) because he stopped receiving an “Auto Allowance” prior to that date, according to his Statements of Earnings from September 29, 2021 through May 11, 2022, which we received via Public Records Request.

Then, on or about November 12, 2021, the City purchased two new white 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe LS 4×2 vehicles, as evidenced by an Invoice from Enterprise Fleet Management, one of which was specifically for Duke Sorey’s use.

The “Total Price” for this vehicle was $47,649.00.

Additional items were added to the vehicles totaling $3,242.67 each.

The total cost of one of the vehicles was $50,091.67.

A 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe is a perfectly serviceable vehicle and more than good enough for an administrator of a postage stamp-sized (5 sq. mi.) municipality with a population of 42,507 residents and a budget of less than $165 million.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, Duke Sorey has such an overblown image of himself that he actually “needs” a top of the line, $100K armored vehicle so he can play Mr. Big Shot on taxpayer dime.

In fact, the only thing missing is the Towing Hitch Stripper Pole.

What a shame.

We’ll leave you with this burning question:

Are there any other City Managers in the entire country who are driving a City-owned armored SUV?

If you know of any, please let us know in the comment section below.

Feel free to also tell us what you think of your “investment.”

Stephanie