Florida's CFO says wasteful spending will be 'undeniable' once DOGE audit findings are released

Florida's new chief financial officer, Blaise Ingoglia, started his gig in late July. The Spring Hill Republican and former state senator is responsible for overseeing the state's finances, insurance regulation and more.

Within hours of being sworn into the role, CFO Ingoglia announced that the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had launched an inquiry into financial information from the city of Gainesville and Broward County. The next day, Ingoglia and Gov. Ron DeSantis traveled to the areas to announce the audits. Ingoglia was tapped to lead this initiative.

"We are on a mission to prove that local governments CAN cut taxes if they take a hard look at unnecessary spending," the CFO wrote on X following the visit. "I look forward to bringing in a new era of accountability."

This then spurred audits across other areas of the state — including in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties. The target is waste, fraud and abuse. But also caught in the crosshairs has been spending related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Some governments across the state have refuted claims made by Florida DOGE about overspending.

For example, St. Pete Catalyst reported that Pinellas County Commissioner Chair Brian Scott — who has welcomed scrutiny — said earlier this month that the agency overcalculated the county's property tax revenues by $76 million and general fund expenditures by $81 million.

ALSO READ: Gainesville mayor says city is 'fiscally conservative' after DeSantis announces audit

Also, Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward spoke with "The Florida Roundup" after the audit announcement and pushed back on claims that the city spends money excessively, arguing it is "fiscally conservative." He also said he didn't understand how the state arrived at certain numbers. This is all before the DOGE teams set foot in the area.

But now, within a little more than a month in the role, Ingoglia talked with "The Florida Roundup" host Tom Hudson about what he can share so far about the efforts to slash spending.

Here's a breakdown:

What's Ingoglia and his team looking for when it comes to DOGE audits?

The CFO said they're looking for anything that is going to be waste, fraud and abuse.

"So when I meet with the auditors and the reviewers, I tell them, 'If you are a taxpayer that resides in whatever city or county that we're in — that they're doing the audit in — if you found out that the government was paying for this, how would you feel,' " Ingoglia said.

He added that this question helps him define what wasteful spending is. He also said it has to do with spending money on things that have nothing to do with making the lives of people better and protecting its citizens.

Right now, they're focused on general fund budgets, which include law enforcement and first responders.

What has Florida DOGE found in the audits?

Ingoglia said that at this moment, they are not yet disclosing their findings about the area governments. But it's for a reason.

"Because we don't want to say, 'Hey, we found x,' but we still have to do the audit in another county and the other country will know that we're looking at x, so that gives them time to rearrange things and potentially hide some of the information from our auditors and reviewers," the CFO said.

He did give a timeline for when the findings are going to be released. Ingoglia said that they will start sending it out roughly 60 days after they complete each individual audit.

ALSO READ: 'A huge imposition': DOGE audit underway in Broward County

"We were doing about two [audits] a week for the last four weeks. So at some point in the future, we'll be doing two reports a week as we start finishing up those audits," he said.

Igoglia added that he believes when these findings are released, there will be apparent examples of wasteful spending.

"When you see some of the examples that we put out there, I think it's going to be undeniable how local governments are wasting taxpayer dollars," Ingoglia said. "And the worst part about it is they cry poor. Not only do they waste the money, then they go and try to ask for more money in the form of ballot referendums to increase sales taxes or property taxes."

What's next after the audits?

Ingoglia said that after the audits, there will be an "informational campaign" to let people in the jurisdiction know how the area is spending their money, how much their government has grown, and the general fund budget for the last four or five years.

He added that this is going to be a "prelude to a constitutional amendment for property tax reform." This is something Gov. Ron DeSantis has been pushing for, but that would have to be passed through the state Legislature before it's put on a ballot for people to vote on. Opponents of eliminating property taxes altogether have expressed concerns about how it would affect low-income Floridians and essential services like schools.

ALSO READ: Florida CFO accuses some local governments of scrubbing records before DOGE audits

"You cannot have property tax relief unless you have good stewards of the taxpayer dollars at the local levels because they are the ones that assess and collect property taxes," Ingoglia said.

The CFO also explained potential repercussions local governments may face if the state finds them to be overspending. He mentioned one possibility is that the state could just not give that municipality any money in the form of appropriations.

"If you have a county that has a demonstrated waste of and neglect of taxpayer dollars and they're not being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, why should the state then come in and continue to throw more money after bad money? I think that would be really bad form for us if we know that they're wasting locals' money," Ingoglia said. "Why would they waste state tax dollars also?"

He finished off by saying that the "ultimate question" will be answered in November 2026 if there's a constitutional amendment to reform property taxes on the ballot. He believes that this would be an opportunity to curb that spending.

This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."