Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia says his office found $84 million in wasteful spending in Alachua County’s budget

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

ALACHUA, Fla. – At a press conference today in Alachua, Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced that his team found $84 million in wasteful spending in Alachua County’s budget.

Ingoglia said he has been traveling the state, “making the case that property taxes have risen to the point where it’s starting to affect everyday Americans. And we have been doing this with an eye to putting a 2026 constitutional amendment on the ballot so people can vote for property tax relief.”

Ingoglia said the original property tax exemption of $25,000 was close to one-third of the value of the average home in Florida when it was introduced, but now the exemptions are only about 9% of the value of the average home. 

However, he said, a “much larger problem is that local governments are taking your money, and they are wasting it. They’re wasting it to a point where everyday families are starting to feel it, and housing affordability is one of the big issues that we face in the state right now… Property taxes, unfortunately, are reaching the level where it’s similar to New York and New Jersey, and a lot of it is because local governments are taking this money and expanding local governments beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.”

Ingoglia said he would be focusing on Alachua County at today’s press conference and would be back in a few weeks to talk about the City of Gainesville. He prefaced his remarks on Alachua County by saying, “The way they spend their money is a little bit different, and their revenue sources are a little bit different than what we’ve seen in other counties. So it’s sort of weird to go through their books, but we think we have a handle on at least the spending problem that we see here in Alachua County.” He said he would not be providing details of “specific instances of what they’re spending on” but would focus on the increase in the General Fund budget since the 2019-2020 fiscal year, adjusted for inflation and population increases. He said detailed reports will come out “relatively soon.”

Ingoglia said local governments will “play defense against giving property tax relief to you. They are going to come out saying things like, ‘Well, if we cut the budget, we’re going to have to get rid of fire. We’re going to have to get rid of police. It’s going to take a long time for people to respond to an emergency.’ That is absolute garbage. It is just scare tactics… And they’re already starting. You are starting to see editorials come out in Sunday papers. You are seeing their big government advocates come out on social media.”

Ingoglia pointed to a poster with a quote from the Tampa Bay Times and said, “They’re saying ‘The increases are largely attributable to inflation and rising population, not government graft, local leaders say.’ I disagree with that, and I think the numbers will… disagree with that, also. And I think you all, as the taxpayers, would probably say that you disagree with that, also”. 

Ingoglia continued, “I will tell you this: the naysayers are not going to deter us. I have been advocating for smaller, more accountable, fiscally-restrained government for the better part of 20 years. In fact, I got involved in politics by advocating for smaller, more fiscally sound government. I have seen all the tricks, so these governments that are going to come out and try to use every trick in the book — shuffle money, try to hide stuff from us — it’s just not going to work. I believe, just like you, that the taxpayers are sick and tired of local governments taking their money and spending it wastefully.”

Ingoglia said his team started with the 2019-2020 budget year because that was before the federal government distributed large amounts of COVID money to local governments. They indexed it every year to inflation and population to estimate where the budget should be today.

He pointed out that although the state’s population has increased, “Our budgets have actually gone down over time, and our cost per citizen actually has gone down [with] the more people that come in, because we run more efficient. Just because we have more people coming into the state, the state doesn’t just go out and just hire a whole mass of people, but unfortunately, that’s what local governments are doing.”

Ingoglia: “COVID dollars have been used basically for one thing: to expand government. Local governments are taking the extra revenue from COVID dollars [and] the extra revenue from property taxes, and they’re expanding their bureaucracies.” 

Ingoglia said that, using this methodology, his team found “about $84 million of wasteful spending,… an eye-popping number. This number includes property taxes but also includes a lot of other fees and services that they charge for, over and above property taxes… This also includes some COVID dollars that I believe that they are still spending. Like I said, the way they do their budget here is a little confusing, to say the least. We are wondering why they’re still spending COVID dollars five years after COVID, but I will tell you,… COVID dollars have been used basically for one thing: to expand government. Local governments are taking the extra revenue from COVID dollars [and] the extra revenue from property taxes, and they’re expanding their bureaucracies.” 

$84,831,843 in Alachua County’s budget is “excessive and wasteful spending”

Ingoglia said his office believes that $84,831,843 in Alachua County’s budget is excessive and wasteful spending. He said the portion of the budget that is funded by property taxes has increased $140,023,309, an increase of 77% over the 2019-2020 budget.

Ingoglia: “I’m telling you here today that it’s all rhetoric. It’s a shell game. They have more than enough money to fund essential services, deliver on their promises, and cut their budgets at the same time. The sad reality is that they just don’t want to.”

He said local governments will say they need that money for fire and police, but his team’s calculations adjusted for the additional fire and police spending that would be needed for the population growth: “As populations grow, you are going to need more fire, you are going to need more police. What it doesn’t mean is that you’re going to need more bureaucrats… I’m telling you here today that it’s all rhetoric. It’s a shell game. They have more than enough money to fund essential services, deliver on their promises, and cut their budgets at the same time. The sad reality is that they just don’t want to.”

Population has increased by 15,605; Alachua County has added 136 new employees

Ingoglia said the population of Alachua County has increased by only 15,605 people since 2019-2020, but Alachua County has added 136 new employees over that time, “and the problem is that when you increase the bureaucracy, it’s harder to tear the bureaucracy down… They add people on purpose to make it harder and harder to actually cut government.”

Ingoglia said that the budget grew by almost $9,000 per person that moved into the county and by almost $36,000 for every family of four that moved in.

Ingoglia: Property tax could be reduced by 0.24 mills “and not even worry about it”

He said that based on these numbers, Alachua County could reduce the property tax rate by 0.24 mills “and not even worry about it, not even bat an eye.” He said this would mean a property tax cut of about $72 a year for a house valued at $300,000, $96 a year for a house valued at $400,000, and $120 a year for a house valued at $500,000.

Ingoglia: “When governments say that they cannot cut, they’re lying. They can cut; they just don’t want to.”

He concluded, “As your CFO, I’m going to continue to work hard exposing waste, fraud, and abuse, in addition to government graft, because the taxpayers deserve better…. I’m going to continue working hard alongside our Governor to offer substantial property tax relief, with an eye on a goal of trying to get rid of property taxes on homesteaded properties altogether…. When governments say that they cannot cut, they’re lying. They can cut; they just don’t want to.” He said the total “excessive wasteful spending” his team found in the first four counties they audited comes to three-quarters of a billion dollars. 

Dean Cheshire from Cheshire Companies said everyone has felt “the bite of inflation over the last several years… But as we all learn to do more with less, local governments have profited beyond all others, basking in swelling budgets propped up by property taxes… Since 2020, [Alachua] County’s population has grown by about 4.1%. Meanwhile, our budget has grown by over 60%…. Think about the cost burden of $1,000 per month in property tax on a small local deli or bookstore. How many more sandwiches or books must they try to sell to feed a hungry government? It simply must stop right now. There is a feeding frenzy, and taxpayers are on the menu. Through property taxes, we’re forced to rent the very homes and businesses we thought we owned, taxed for unrealized gains in homes… All of this is happening while local leaders are yachting on oceans of cash squeezed from the blood, sweat, and tears of taxpayers.”

Katrine Dunn said she is a native of Gainesville, and she and her husband have raised seven children here. She said, “Our sons work in firefighting, plumbing, software development, filmmaking — making ends meet financially in today’s market for them is difficult, to say the least. I was 25 when I bought my first home, and young homebuyers are fading, with the median first-time homebuyer jumping from age 28 in 1991 to now 38 years old in 2024. We all want our kids to have a better life than we have had. A key step is CFO Blaise Ingolia’s and our Governor’s help in bringing this information to light, and I would encourage all of us to… take this information to heart and get busy and vote accordingly at the ballot box next year.”

Ingoglia finished by saying, “This is just information. We cannot force local governments to cut their budgets.” He said the state could deny appropriations to governments that are believed to be wasting money, “but the biggest thing that we can do is put a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2026, where people can vote in the tax relief themselves… Just know this: I am going to be an unafraid taxpayer advocate for you guys. If I’m blessed to be in this office for the next nine years, you can rest assured that I’m going to spend every waking hour of every day thinking of ways that I can make government more efficient, more accountable, and less costly to you, the taxpayers,”