Cities, counties and law enforcement agencies across Florida will now undergo state audits, with Broward County being up first, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday morning in Fort Lauderdale alongside the state’s newly sworn-in Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia.
DeSantis said reviews by his Office of Policy and Budget and Ingoglia’s Department of Financial Services will focus on governments that have “refused” to comply with state “Department of Government Efficiency” efforts, which were announced in February.
The reviews also are tied to DeSantis’ effort to get the Legislature to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot to lower property taxes.
State auditors will be in Broward County and Gainesville starting July 31, DeSantis said. The two local governments were advised Monday night about the announcement.
Why is Broward County being audited first?
According to the Florida governor, Broward local government spending just doesn’t add up.
“Their county government has increased property tax burdens by the tune of $450 million, in addition to ad valorem collections, that’s an increase of close to 50% just since 2020, but yet the population of Broward has barely grown at all, less than 5%,” he said.
The governor said the county is spending as if the money belongs to someone else.
“I think it was, was it $800,000 for the Rose Bowl? They did a float in the Rose Bowl. The county administrator here makes almost half a million dollars a year. So there’s a lot of things that really deserve scrutiny,” he said.
DeSantis said Broward is among communities that have drawn complaints since the state announced its DOGE efforts, with others being in places such as Hillsborough County, Manatee County, Northeast Florida and South Florida.
“In particular, there’s a couple sheriff’s departments across the state that people find concerns about,” DeSantis said.
Broward County Commissioner Steve Geller responds
“I find it interesting that the two counties he chosen to audit first are two bright blue counties, but I’m sure that’s merely a coincidence,” said Geller.
He said the state’s numbers are off and explained that a large amount of money goes toward the airport, seaport and public safety.
Geller also said recently passed legislation is also causing Broward to spend more.
“They passed a law saying if there’s homeless people, you have to remove them, but they didn’t give us any money to do that; the county’s having to do that. So, the legislature keeps passing laws that are costing us money and then complaining that we have to spend money!”
“We’ve given them everything they’ve asked for. They said, ‘Well, you didn’t pass a resolution telling us you support DOGE.’ I don’t support it. I’m not grateful they’re planning on giving the county a colonoscopy, but we will follow the law.”
Florida municipalities may face fines if they don’t comply
Ingoglia, who was sworn-in as CFO on Monday, said they’re going to begin auditing municipalities and agencies with a team on the ground and using artificial intelligence.
If the municipalities and agencies don’t comply, DeSantis said not only will the state withhold funding, there will also be fines.
“For example, if we send a letter to a city and say, you know, provide us information on these 100 things, and they don’t do it, then each individual item would be a daily fine of $1,000, so that’d be $100,000 a day,” he said.
The governor said they are starting with areas where they’ve gotten a lot of complaints and little compliance.
So where does Miami-Dade County stand?
“I don’t think they fully got on board, but we do have some of the commissioners that are helping on that. So I would say that they’ve been better than some, but not good enough. So, I think it’s very possible that you’ll see an announcement on Miami-Dade within the next couple weeks,” DeSantis said.
CFO Ingoglia to focus on local government spending, insurance
DeSantis said Ingoglia, a former state congressman who was sworn in as CFO on Monday, will make his top priority auditing local government spending.
In addition to local government audits, Ingoglia said he will focus on ensuring insurance companies follow requirements.
“If they’re slowing stuff, we’re going to have conversations with them,” Ingoglia said. “I’m not going to sit back. I’m not going to allow anyone to game the system, whether it is on one side or the other side, whether it is trial attorneys gaming the system or insurance companies gaming the system.”
Critics have accused some property insurers of not properly paying claims and have raised questions about carriers sending money to shareholders and affiliated companies while seeking rate increases.
In his remarks during Monday’s ceremony, Ingoglia called the appointment to the Cabinet post an “honor that has been bestowed upon me.”
This report includes information from the News Service of Florida.
