$940 Million In ‘Waste’: Florida CFO Slams Local Governments, Demands Massive Property Tax Relief

October 2, 2025

Florida Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Blaise Ingoglia has launched a sweeping attack on the fiscal practices of local governments across the state, alleging that they are engaged in nearly $1 billion in “wasteful and excessive spending.”

Based on an analysis of five major Florida jurisdictions, the CFO asserts this excessive spending, which far outpaces inflation and population growth, is directly responsible for skyrocketing property taxes and calls for immediate, substantial millage rate reductions.

CFO Ingoglia’s office calculated the claimed waste by comparing the growth of the General Fund budgets in these counties and cities since Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020 against the rates of population increase and inflation. He contends that the difference represents funds that should be returned to taxpayers.

The $940 Million Breakdown

The total amount of excessive spending identified in the initial phase of the review is $940 million (often cited by the CFO as “almost $1B”). The largest alleged offenders are in the Tampa Bay and Central Florida metro areas:

CFO Ingoglia argues that the data disproves the notion that local governments lack the revenue to provide tax relief. “These numbers are proof positive that the issue is spending, not revenue,” he stated, adding, “Taxpayers are fed up with their local governments spending recklessly.”

The CFO pointed to specific figures demonstrating budget increases wildly outstripping population growth:

• Alachua County’s General Fund rose by 77.1% while its population grew minimally.
• Broward County’s General Fund increased by $617 million, equating to an expenditure increase of $10,860 for every new resident.
• Orange County has seen its budget increase by over $559 million since 2020, while also hiring 661 new employees and increasing local government worker wages by 24.5%, outpacing the private sector.

Relief Proposals for Homeowners

For each jurisdiction, Ingoglia outlined specific millage rate reductions that could be implemented “without impacting services provided to residents.”

Challenge to Elected Officials

The CFO directly addressed local leaders, challenging the City of Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan and others, stating that the money “belongs in the hands of taxpayers, not the bureaucrats.” He tied the findings directly to the larger political debate on eliminating property taxes, insisting, “When people start talking about property tax relief… they say, you can never do it. We vehemently disagree.”

The announcement received support from the non-partisan watchdog group Florida TaxWatch. Executive Vice-President Jeff Kottkamp commented, “Safeguarding taxpayer dollars should be a top concern for local governments… we are proud to work with CFO Ingoglia and his office to highlight wasteful government spending, which leads to higher taxes for Floridians.”

Ingoglia concluded that these initial five counties represent only the beginning of a larger investigation, warning that the statewide total of alleged waste could easily reach the “tens of billions of dollars.”

The report puts immense pressure on local commissioners and council members as they finalize their budgets for the current fiscal year.

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