Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said Thursday that an analysis of the City of Miami's budget shows it is engaging in "excessive and wasteful" spending, noting that expenditures are more than $94 million higher than what can be justified by inflation and population growth.
Speaking to reporters at a news conference in downtown Miami, Ingoglia said the city's budget had increased by more than $358 million — a 44.29% jump — since fiscal year 2019-2020. The city's current budget is roughly $1.2 billion.
He said the city's budget increased by $15,320 for every new resident who had moved to Miami since 2020.
"Due to [the] local government's fiscal irresponsibly, a financial burden has been placed on the shoulders of the taxpayers," Ingoglia said in a statement. "This burden must be rectified, and local governments must take steps to provide property tax relief to residents."
He pressed city officials to reduce its millage rate — by 0.50 — and provide residents with property tax relief. Those with a taxable home value of $500,000 would save about $251 annually.
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In a statement, the city commission dismissed Ingoglia's budget analysis.
"The CFO's spending analysis is incomplete," said commissioners, who argued "broad conclusions" were drawn "from just a few data points without considering external factors."
"Beyond inflation and population growth within the city boundary, the City of Miami provides services to thousands of individuals who work in the city but reside elsewhere within Miami-Dade or other surrounding areas of South Florida," the commissioners said.
"A formula applied to a suburban or rural city would never reasonably apply to a city that inherently is as complex and unique as the City of Miami," the commissioners added.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Eileen Higgins, who is running to become the city's next mayor, said "the city of Miami's chaos and corruption has left taxpayers paying for more while getting less in services."
"This isn't a this year problem either, it goes back years and yet the same city hall insiders are on the ballot," Higgins said in a statement released by her campaign.
According to the CFO's analysis, the city could reduce its millage rate by 0.50 mills without impacting existing services.
Ingoglia has been leading the charge with the state's version of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, which has been examining local governments for wasteful spending.
The analysis report on Miami is part of a larger, ongoing effort by Ingoglia to audit and expose over $1.1 billion in alleged wasteful spending across eight local governments in Florida.
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