State auditors should focus on the budget categories that grew the most since 2019

OPINION

BY LEN CABRERA

Governor DeSantis threw out a lot of numbers at his press conference on July 22 when he announced a formal “DOGE” audit of the City of Gainesville. His numbers were off, but his overall point was correct: Gainesville property tax revenues have greatly outpaced population growth.

The budget did not expand by $90 million per year

The Governor posted on X, “The City of Gainesville has hiked taxes on property owners by over 85% in the last four years.” The post goes on to say that the City budget expanded by $90 million per year. Somebody should have checked that post more closely: the total increase in the all-funds budget over four years (2020-2024) is close to that figure, based on data from Gainesville’s Archived Budget Documents.

Property tax revenue increased 76% between 2020 and 2024

The property tax data is a little easier to find in the Florida Department of Revenue Tax Data Book. It’s still not easy to compare year to year (or city to city) because of the format. Individual files by year contain two years of data (one tab for each county). The latest file (2024) contains data for 2023 and 2024. The table below shows the property tax millage and revenue collected for Gainesville from 2015 to 2024. (Each year uses the latest possible data, so the 2015 figures come from the 2016 file, 2016 figures from the 2017 file, etc.) The population data comes from World Population Review (the U.S. Census QuickFacts website was undergoing maintenance).

In the four-year period since 2020 (2020-2024), property tax revenue increased 76% ($40 million to $71 million), with only a 3.3% increase in population (142,000 to 147,000) over the same period. (Comparing FY2019 to FY2024 results in an increase close to what DeSantis said, an 86% increase in tax revenue over that five-year period) The graph below shows the percentage change in property tax revenue, the percentage change in population for the City of Gainesville, and the annual inflation rate (using Bureau of Labor Statistics January CPI figures).

The tax revenue and population change percentages are only close in 2020 (5.9% revenue increase and 6.0% population increase). Over the years in the table, the average increase in revenue was 12.1% per year, compared to an increase of only 1.4% per year for population.

The figures in the state’s Tax Data Book don’t exactly match the City’s archived Budget Documents. According to the City’s documents, the increase in property tax revenue from 2020 to 2024 was 72% (using adopted values). The four-year period ending in 2025 is worse: a 76.2% increase. The City’s budget documents make the data even more difficult to find, since it’s buried in lengthy PDF files. The City’s documents provide adopted, approved, amended, and actual values, and they’re not the same for a given year in subsequent budget documents. The documents seem to get longer every year. The FY2020-2021 document is 126 pages (at the time, the City was using two-year budget cycles); the FY2025 document has 330 pages. It would be nice if the City included an appendix with all the relevant budget data for previous years, in table form, going back 10 or 20 years. Most of the tables in the latest Economic Report of the President Appendix B, for example, go back 50 years (1973-2024).

Spending increased by 26% between 2020 and 2024 (General Fund by $34 million, All Funds by $94 million)

Actual spending in the City’s General Fund hasn’t increased nearly as much as property tax revenues. Using actual General Fund expenditures, 2020-2024 saw a 25.6% increase ($134 million to $169 million) with a 3.3% increase in population. The total increase in the General Fund over that period is only $34.4 million, far less than the $90 million per year claim. However, an increase that large can be found between the pre-COVID 2020 adopted All Funds budget ($361 million) and the 2024 actual All Funds expenditure ($455 million), a 26.0% increase.

Property taxes funded 24.2% of the General Fund budget in 2019 and 40.2% in 2024

The City’s abuse of property tax revenue is most clearly illustrated by looking at the percentage of the General Fund budget funded by property taxes. It was 24.2% in 2019 and rose to 40.2% in 2024. The 2025 figure is expected to rise to 43.8%.

The increase in property taxes makes up for the reduction in the General Fund Transfer

The City is raising property taxes to make up for the loss of the GRU General Fund Transfer (also known as the General Services Contribution). From FY19 to FY23, the transfer was between $38 and $34 million. In FY24 it was cut to $15 million, and for 2025, it will only be $8.5 million (likely closer to $7 million after GRU deducts funds for County streetlights and lawsuits). Private citizens who take a pay cut have to adjust their budgets, but cities with taxing authority don’t have to unless someone makes them; it appears that the DOGE auditors hope to expose spending that residents don’t support, with the goal of eventually passing an amendment to the state’s Constitution to reduce local governments’ ability to tax homesteaded properties to fund that spending.

Do residents care about property taxes?

A lot of people are complaining about the audit, suggesting that it’s primarily politically motivated, but the City of Gainesville’s rapid increase in property tax revenue, dwarfing both population growth and inflation, is hard to ignore, much less justify. The partisan argument was also weakened when DeSantis announced an audit of a third local government: Republican-controlled Manatee County.

Many Gainesville residents probably don’t care about rising property taxes. Renters don’t see the property taxes embedded in their rent, and many property owners don’t even see the tax payments buried in the escrow portion of their mortgages. At the aggregate level, it doesn’t even seem like much: $71 million spread over 147,000 people is roughly $482 per person this year. Of course, taxes aren’t spread evenly, so some taxpayers are paying much more than others. You would think those who pay more would be more supportive of the audit.

Multiple local commissioners have commented this summer that nobody is showing up to comment at budget meetings, implying that residents really don’t care about increases to their property taxes, business taxes, and fees.

The loudest voices will be those who benefit from the spending

Just like the pain of paying the tax isn’t evenly spread, the spending powered by those tax revenues isn’t equally distributed, and the spending categories with the largest increases since 2019 should be the focus.

Expect the labor unions, their loyal partisans, and the nonprofits to be the loudest voices against the audit. They’ll claim that DeSantis is a tyrant and the people of Gainesville voted for these taxes. They’ll ignore the fact that the people of Florida voted for the state representatives who gave DeSantis authority for the audit. Democracy is only valid when the results favor your political side.

One could argue that political grift is common to both parties and DeSantis is just as guilty of partisanship and favoritism as the Democrats who control Broward County and the City of Gainesville. That may be true. The difference is that the State’s books are healthy, including actual budget cuts two years in a row, reduced debt, and a record $4.9 billion emergency fund.

DeSantis said, “Don’t tell me that your City’s run well; show me.” Those who fear the audit know the city isn’t run well. They fear that the audit will expose the public-private political grift that diverts tax revenue to the politically connected class that controls Gainesville. We can only hope.