Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced Tuesday that state officials will probe spending by the governments in Democratic-leaning Broward County and Gainesville.
DeSantis said reviews by his Office of Policy and Budget and Ingoglia’s Department of Financial Services will focus on governments that have “refused” to comply with state “Department of Government Efficiency” efforts, which were announced in February. The reviews also are tied to DeSantis’ effort to get the Legislature to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot to lower property taxes.
“This is just the start. There’s going to be more over the next, particularly, couple weeks, that we’re going to do around the state,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Fort Lauderdale. “I think you’ll see counties, but I also think you’ll see cities, and I think that there’s going to be a lot of taxpayers that are going to be happy that this is being done.”
[Palm Coast and Flagler County governments have been providing information to the state “Department of Government Efficiency.”]
State auditors will be in Broward County and Gainesville starting July 31, DeSantis said. The two local governments were advised Monday night about the announcement.
Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward responded by surmising “other historically ‘blue’ cities and counties will undergo similar scrutiny” and that he stood by “the efficiency and resiliency of our city government.”
“Over the past two years our city commission has passed a historic debt reduction plan and eliminated 161.5 staff positions,” Ward said in a statement. “We did this while protecting public safety, expanding our financial reserves and keeping our millage rate near the average of our Florida peer cities. Additionally, our city’s credit rating was increased during all this time.”
A Broward County representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis said Broward County is among communities that have drawn complaints since the state announced its DOGE efforts, with others being in places such as Hillsborough County, Manatee County, Northeast Florida and South Florida.
“In particular, there’s a couple sheriff’s departments across the state that people find concerns about,” DeSantis said.
Ingoglia, a former lawmaker who was sworn in Monday as chief financial officer after being appointed by DeSantis, said the audits will help counter expected local-government opposition to the potential ballot proposal on lowering property taxes. Local governments rely heavily on property taxes to fund services.
“We are on a mission to prove that a lot of the stuff that they don’t want to cut, they could cut, There’s just not a willingness to cut,” Ingoglia said Tuesday while in Gainesville.
DeSantis said questions have been raised in Broward County about spending on such things as diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs and a float for the Pasadena, Calif., Tournament of Roses New Year’s Day parade.
The float, which used nearly $800,000 in tourist-development tax money, was part of a Visit Lauderdale effort to counter tourism losses from perceived attacks on LGBTQ communities by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers.
Ingoglia singled out Broward County as “one of the worst offenders when it comes to spending.”
Leave a Reply