Last week Blaise Ingoglia, Florida’s chief financial officer, invited Flagler County’s top elected officials to their own public flogging. They had all submissively trooped into a room at the Hammock Beach Club for Ingoglia’s latest campaign stop disguised as a press conference–county commissioners, Palm Coast City Council members, constitutional officers, all of them wondering who Ingoglia was about to destroy next for what he calls “overspending.”
Gov. DeSantis appointed Ingoglia CFO on July 21. Since September, he’s been holding pseudo press conferences around the state to flog local governments over their excesses. He holds up rectangular flash cards to the camera to show by how much. Jacksonville: $200 million. Hillsborough, $279 million. Alachua, $85 million. Seminole, $48 million. Manatee, $112 million. Miami, $94 million. Miami-Dade, $303 million. He’s done at least 14 of these.
Last week it was Flagler County’s turn: $59 million.
The figures are supposedly the result of what he calls “high-level spending comparisons and audits.” Audits take weeks and months. These aren’t audits. They’re back-of-the-envelope tabulations a high school intern can do in five minutes based on Ingoglia’s crackpot formula: calculate population growth and inflation, add a 10 to 15 percent inefficiency factor, and compare that to actual general fund budget figures between 2019 and 2025. If the difference exceeds Ingoglia’s arbitrary benchmarks, it’s overspending. It’s robbing taxpayers. It’s fraud.
It’s a brilliant rhetorical appeal to taxpayers’ outrage. It’s also bullshit.
You can start with his measures. Let’s assume there’s zero inflation and zero population growth. Does that mean your local budget should never grow? If your community’s wealth wasn’t growing–no property value increases, no growth, no value added to existing businesses, no financial investments, no dividends from investments–then maybe you could make the argument that your government budget should be static, too.
That’s not how things work. Even in a low-to-zero-inflation and zero population growth environment, dozens of other factors affect your local economy, for good or ill. Increases in property value, business, household and personal wealth are among the most recognizable and dependable. When those values increase, our local government’s budgets increase and we expect more from it–handsomer parks, better transportation, better schools, more environmental protection.
Ingoglia fixates on population and inflation because they’re the easiest to talk about simplistically. They’re also the dopiest factors to pick on. They matter. But nowhere near to the exclusion of so many other factors that play into what we prize most: standard of living, or what we more recently have redefined as quality of life. So Ingoglia’s premise is almost fatally flawed from the start. Not to mention the constitutional inconvenience that he has no business butting into duly elected local governments’ business, especially when he’s exploiting them as campaign fodder.
But let’s play his game. Let’s accept it at face value. Even then: Ingoglia doesn’t provide any documentation for his claims other than those crude figures. He has no documentation. His method is a firehose of fallacies, such as the absurdity of applying the same formula to Duval or Miami-Dade as blindly as he does to Flagler, as if local budgets were the same cookie-cut.
He uses the word “audits” and makes it sound as if he has a huge, dedicated staff of DOGE-diggers. Really? Did he or his staff meet with local government officials to go over the numbers, ask questions, verify accusations? Of course not. Can he provide a single concrete example of overspending–a single one, just one unnecessary employee, one wasteful program, one pointless capital project, one dispensable “bureaucracy”?
He does not. He cannot, because he hasn’t looked at the budgets. Because the moment you look closer, his accusations collapse under the weight of their own dishonesty.
In Flagler he points, accurately, to the general fund increase from $92 million in 2019 to $203 million this year.
Let’s look at what Ingoglia ignored. The sheriff’s budget increased 87 percent in that span. Fire rescue, FireFlight and Emergency Management increased 80 percent. Ingoglia considers those sacred cows. But if you just take the budget increases for the sheriff, fire services and general fund reserves, which improved from $9 million to $46 million (is Ingoglia suggesting that fiscal prudence in a hurricane-prone county is a bad idea?), you end up with $70 million of the increase in those six years. That’s 63 percent of that net increase in the size of the budget right there.
The county took over the $2.9 million 911 operation from the sheriff, which looks like a decrease in the sheriff’s budget and an increase in the county’s. Is Ingoglia suggesting that 911 is a luxury? Granted, the library budget doubled from $1.3 million to $2.7 million, and heaven knows our own county commissioners have been bitching about that for over a year. But on a per capita basis, it’s still one of the lowest budgets in the state. Volusia County, for example, spends twice as much on its libraries per resident. St. Johns spends one and a half times as much. Flagler’s libraries are barely catching up. In other words, Holly Albanese’s library system is still one of the most efficient in Florida, Nexus Center included. Ingoglia should’ve been down here handing Albanese and the county an award for that, not a guillotine.
A bit more: Flagler County’s share of the medical examiner’s budget has more than doubled to $1 million, so has the clerk of court’s budget. The supervisor of elections’ budget has almost doubled. Is Ingoglia suggesting that taxpayers would rather have an extra $50 in their pocket instead of justice and fair elections?
We could do this all day. Examine the budget line by line, and Ingoglia’s blanket attacks are revealed for what they are: nothing short of an ignorant slander against government as he fabricates public outrage to win office and to win passage of an expected constitutional amendment abolishing homesteaded property taxes.
He claims “we’re having a property tax revolt here.” Floridians are in revolt over higher property taxes. When was the last time you saw a homesteaded property owner complaining at a local government budget hearing in September? Those chambers are notoriously empty, year after year. There is no revolt. Here’s why: our homesteaded property taxes are declining.
In inflation-adjusted dollars, I paid the county’s general fund $927 in property taxes for 2025, and $2,280 overall. In 2019, I paid the county $1,013 ($796 in unadjusted dollars), and $2,708 overall ($2,086 unadjusted). My county taxes have fallen 9 percent, my overall taxes have fallen 16 percent. The county has lost that purchasing power. It is making it up on the back of the non-homesteaded, like businesses and renters, who are subsidizing government services for the rest of us.
A revolt? More bullshit. Yet Ingoglia is campaigning to eliminate homesteaded property taxes, worsening an already unfair system: “The goal here is elimination of property taxes on homesteaded properties altogether,” he says.
Not that the non-homesteaded are hurting that much. Take my neighborhood Publix on Belle Terre, which has no homestead exemption. In 2019. It paid the county $54,000 in unadjusted dollars. In 2025, it paid $53,800, because the county’s tax rate fell in the meantime and Publix’s assessed value increased marginally. In inflation-adjusted dollars, Publix is paying about $15,000 less than it was paying in 2019. That’s the purchasing power county government lost on that tax bill. It’s government that should be in revolt.
But demagogues like Ingoglia know that repeating an appealing lie often enough and to unquestioning cameras and moronic talk show hosts will always get more applause and votes than documenting and verifying claims. Intellectual honesty isn’t hard work, especially for a government bureaucrat like Ingoglia who has the benefit of a staff and suck-up vassals like Joe Mullins to spread his propaganda. But it’s a hassle, and it gets in the way of an election and of scoring cheap points by slandering the reputations of elected officials vying for their own reelection.
That’s Ingoglia’s end game: to trample local governments in a mush of malicious disinformation and reckless anti-government rhetoric on his way to his own electoral glory. Don’t fall for it. Our local governments aren’t the fraud. Blaise Ingoglia is.
Pierre Tristam is the editor of FlaglerLive. A version of this piece airs on WNZF.
Rob says
1. Pierre-you levy heavy criticism. So what are the right measures to determine whether budget is in line with what it should be? Are you a believer this budget size is appropriate?
2. Are you aware that there is an internal document from the county that states that taxpayers are not receiving a right sized share of services already for the tax dollars they pay?
Pierre Tristam says
Rob, Florida’s local governments are notoriously underfunded. Flagler, Palm Coast, Flagler Beach are no exception. The result is mediocre schools, shoddy roads, next to nonexistent public transportation (the county’s system is an outdated farce: I’d eliminate it and shift the money to an Uber fund, kind of like school vouchers but for public transportation), reverse investment in the elderly (see the recent elimination of the adult day care program, so maybe the 6 cents you will save next year can be shifted to buying a couple of ounces of an Iran-bound missile’s warhead) less than zero investment in culture and the arts, which is unforgivable, bare-bones environmental protection (and that, mostly thanks to tax supported but still limited environmental land initiatives), half-assed emergency helicopter services (oh wait! the sheriff’s new copter will supposedly bail us out, but at three times the cost). Need I go on? The point of the piece was to deconstruct Ingoglia’s lies. Longwinded as I am, I figured I should spare you and others the other side of the coin, which would have been the answer to your question, but this should serve as a digest for now. I was not aware of that internal document. If you can send it to me, I’d be grateful.
DaleL says
Flagler County Office of Management and Budget has a 484 page pdf of the 2025-2026 adopted budget posted online. It is public, not hidden. It has the details on where the money comes from and how it is being spent. I’m quite satisfied that our county officials are performing their adequately. (Adequately, maybe not great, but also not bad.)
Blaise Ingoglia’s “audit” is just campaign style rhetoric. It is false and inflammatory.
https://www.flaglercounty.gov/Government/Departments/Financial-Services/Office-of-Management-and-Budget-OMB#docaccess-ac45cd6b328d883bc6191275fa4969161f18f513862c464694e8b177c94ed700
Pogo says
Liars lie, it’s what they are, what they do. If their lips are moving — they’re lying.
Period.
Ed P says
Just for informational comparison to Pierre’s annual taxes.
My home was finished being built late 2011. Combined taxes and assesment (CTA) – $1421.06 (vacant lot)
2012 CTA-$5034.46 (was homesteaded by residence)
2019 CTA- $8503.51 ( I purchased Nov 2019)
2021 CTA- $10,359.57 ( first year qualifying as Homesteaded)
2025 CTA-$13573.96
I’m not complaining but highlighting the “Island Effect”. There is a significant disparity in tax amounts between his home and mine. Yes, older long term homesteaded properties are not really paying their fair share, but that’s the rules/statutes.
The counties spending may not actually be bloated by the 59 million for reasons stated in the article. Additionally, the fact that we are a smaller county that was designed by ITT to be a residential retirement community has impacted the commercial development, a downtown area, and tourism appeal. The county/city leaders are just a decade late in addressing the reality that both commercial and tourism is the least painful path forward.
One mention about the sheriffs budget.
Compared to our closet neighbor, Daytona, everyone should see the value of the sheriff’s budget as money well spent. It’s not a sacred cow and some belt tightening is certainly warranted, just don’t slaughter it.
Endless dark money says
Trust the rapeublicans haha
FedUp says
If you look at past Flagler County purchases, such as the Sears building in Palm Coast and the old Flagler Hospital in Bunnell, these are two examples of expenditures that some residents consider questionable uses of taxpayer money, and there may be others. Additionally, the article is written by a liberal journalist who interprets the subject matter through his own personal perspective. So don’t be so quick to shoot the messenger.
Pierre Tristam says
Yes I should have made clear that no government is without its spending abuses, misjudgments etc. Incidentally, you learned about the Sears building and the old hospital in Bunnell through my reporting in these pages. But that aside, government (whose books are wide open, enabling us to catch and hopefully correct abuses) is nowhere near the abuses of the private sector, whose books are conveniently closed but whose prices we pay every day. You really think the $4.25-a-gallon gas you’re paying now is due only to the obscenity in the White House? Exxon Mobil’s stock rose from $150 to $170 since the start of the war. Show me any exploitation of taxpayers comparable to that sort of exploitation of consumers, and I’ll lend you my oceanside time share in Kiev. But I like your sense of humor, calling Ingoglia a messenger. Reminds me of Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi saying they were on a mission from god. At least they knew they were comedians.
Rob Jarowski says
Appreciate the discourse and appreciate your perspective.
What’s your email?
Pierre Tristam says
Thank you Rob, it’s [email protected]
FedUp says
Don’t be so quick to pat yourself on the back for your previous reporting. There’s more than one news source to get information from, and Flagler Live isn’t the only one. It’s typical that you wouldn’t highlight that in June 2022, gas was over $5/gallon under your Messiah, Joe Biden. Stop focusing on today and focus more on the future.
Pierre Tristam says
I don’t know where you get the idea that I’m denying the existence of other media. But you would not have read about or known about those issues had FlaglerLive not reported them. That’s the point I was making (no back-patting needed for just doing my job). That’s the case with innumerable stories week in and week out. I don’t know what Biden has to do with it, but that tells me you’re grasping at straws at this point. Meanwhile, thanks for living in this site, rent-free.
Laurel says
I see a few things here. The very wealthy, who spend many tens of thousands for their mansions, and can afford to do so, on their annual property taxes will benefit far more than our average citizens by no longer paying.
First responders will lose their exemptions we voted to give them. Low income seniors will lose their exemption. Widows and widowers will lose their exemption. There is no mention of fee and assessment exemptions for these same people.
It is completely fair that long timers do not pay what new buys and builds pay. They have paid into the local system longer, and for older properties.
It looks like another back door into killing off home rule, where the state, and its wealthy backers will have charge of all local government and local rules.
It also looks like more division bullshit. More manipulation of the state residents.
Ed P says
The concept that more expensive homes would provide owners more benefits if taxes are adjusted is a straw man’s argument. Taxes are not being eliminated, just reduced.
Homeowners who itemize their federal taxes will lose the full tax deduction that was recently re-added this year, prior, it was capped at $10,000. Msbu and non- ad valorem assessments will probably fill the gaps. They are not tax deductible.
Do we believe everyone will actually pay less?
Any savings for those same homeowners may evaporate with higher federal taxes when the deductible amount is shifted.
Exemption are not scheduled to be eliminated but actually being expanded. The current exceptions are still necessary to reduce the remaining tax portions like schools and emergency services.
Examining exemption proposals, some ideas are being proposed that could actually expand and eliminate all taxes for some cohorts which means someone else has to pay more.
Continual vilification of success or wealth is contrary to the American Dream.
Very wasteful says
We don’t need a messenger to tell us all government bureau waste a lot of $$
Unfortunately Government is built to spend money not save it.
Just dump more sand into the ocean and call it a day
Koyote says
My personal opinion on this particular area of attack is that it is an attempt to drum up dumb-ass support for the elimination of property taxes which DeSantis is heavily pushing. They’ve already had proof that a lot of pictures and numbers (relevancy not necessary) can sway their base.
And the basic reason for the huge push to eliminate local property taxes – other than DeSantis’ ego – is to (once again, my opinion) make local governments dependent on the State for any major funds – starving the local government and giving the State the chokehold on local governmental throats.
Ed Danko, former Vice-Mayor PC says
Liberals love tax increases. Tax and spend, tax and spend, tax and spend, will always be their motto! Truth is the public is fed up with wasteful spending, especially at the local level, and as a former elected official, who never voted for a tax increase , I can tell you there is a lot of wasteful spending. Hopefully there will be an amendment abolishing homesteaded property taxes on the ballot in November, and no doubt it will pass. That means that local governments will have to quit wasting our money, and elected officials like “Tax & Spend Pontieri” we’ll be gone!
Dave says
Former elected “Vice” official. There, I fixed it.
Ed Danko says
And you are? Your full name? What office did you hold? Your position in life? Tell us please!
Laurel says
Ed Danko etc., etc.: You know, you never cease to amaze me. “Liberals love tax increases.” Stop making shit up, please. You are a major divider of the public. Stop! You are only furthering damage to us. Try saying something worthwhile for a change.
Atwp says
Ed Republicans love to waste taxpayer dollars. On the national stage the expensive ballroom Trump is trying to get. Private funds, probably millions of tax payers money will be used on a wasteful construction. Ed don’t forget about the Iran War, he want millions of tax dollars to pay for a war that he a Republican started. The Republicans love to waste taxpayers dollars.
Ed Danko, former Vice-Mayor, PC says
The White House Ballroom construction is all being paid for by private funds, so stop spreading false liberal Democrat talking points. No taxpayer money is being spent. And, you should thank God that President Trump, along with our allies in Israel, made the decision to wipe out the Iranian leadership of terrorist and stop them from ever obtaining a nuclear weapons, because only an idiot (or a liberal) would actually believe they would never use them. BTW: Why do you (and others like you) never use your name? Why are you hiding? Why hide behind a keyboard like cowards? If you believe in something, then stand up and put your name to it like I do!
Darby says
Anyone grossed out by this guys ties to Mullins? I am. I’m even more disgusted that WNZF allowed Mullins to call into Free for all Friday to defend his shitty budget.
Sherry says
Rapeublicans have been in charge here for 20 years. They will rape your kids your wallet and your environment!
Sherry says
Rapublikkkans hate fact checking. It doesn’t mix well in their misinformation environments. If the R’s cared about facts they wouldn’t be pedo terrorism supporters.
Pogo says
Consider all things, e.g., CFO of the world’s 15th largest economy…
https://www.google.com/search?q=florida+rank+world+economy
Blaise Ingoglia’s Biography
Office: Chief Financial Officer (FL), Republican
Education
Attended, Economics/Accounting, Queens College, 1990-1992
Attended, Biology, Brooklyn College, 1988-1989
Professional Experience
Chief Executive Officer, Hartland Homes, 2002-present
Chief Executive Officer, America One Home Loans, 1998-2015
https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/biography/149443/blaise-ingoglia
Who’s in your wallet?
Villein says
I think society will not be satisfied until there are no government services. I think many people don’t realize that’s what is actually being discussed here. Privatize and contract out all services. Those costs will spiral far faster than the costs of government services that are answerable to voters, not shareholders. Eliminating property taxes on homesteads (other than schools-makes no sense) will make the state far more exclusive, allowing only the wealthiest to remain in a landscape with no subsidies for the middle and lower classes.
Laurel says
Interesting that they want the elimination of taxes, except for school vouchers, again, benefitting those who can already afford it, rather than building better public schools.
Who do y’all figure the Republicans are catering to?
Villein says
Lauren, I honestly can’t tell anymore. I think even they have lost the plot. Schools are expensive and they already control them from Tallahassee? The power elites are running around like rabid dogs. It is an age of ignorance to fuel the collapse that has been underway, slowly at first then all of a sudden.