DOGE

Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia said the county's budget increases are hurting tax payers and exacerbating an affordability crisis.

During his time in office, Gov. Ron DeSantis has been aggressive in vetoing appropriations in the state budget for LGBTQ programs. Cognizant of that fact, some Democratic legislators say, they’ve been able to continue support for those programs by omitting any direct references to the LGBTQ community in their appropriation proposals.

An influential fiscal watchdog group is urging state leaders to pass a "Florida Government Efficiency Act." The statute would require the governor's annual budget recommendations to include cost-savings measures. The Legislature would be required to consider them.

On "The Florida Roundup," the state's new chief financial officer, Blaise Ingoglia, discussed auditing local governments and a timeline for when findings will be released.

A Palm Beach County agency that provides grants to nonprofits to help struggling teens and their families is in the crosshairs of the state’s DOGE team and county commissioners. At a meeting Aug. 26, leaders of the county’s Youth Services Department will be asked to justify why they want to give tax money to 33 agencies. It marks the commission’s first critical inquiry into spending since it created the department 10 years ago.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said he was “not at liberty to say” which city or county governments the allegations target.

In two weeks, a team from the government efficiency office created by Gov. Ron DeSantis will arrive in county offices to begin combing through financial records, regulations and policies to ferret out waste, according to a letter County Mayor Maria Marino received Thursday.

Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez is convening what he calls “a rare meeting” outside the commission’s regular meeting schedule “to identify immediate budget cuts and reduce government waste.” He's inviting Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia to a planned August 20 meeting to find ways to cooperate and work in tandem with the state officials.

While Palm Beach County and its 39 cities have complied with the state DOGE team’s request for detailed financial information, some municipal leaders said they can’t understand why they were forced to waste resources on what some described as a time-consuming and tedious task.

Programs like Broward's transportation surtax and climate change mitigation efforts are under scrutiny from the state task force as their audit gets underway.

On "The Florida Roundup," Mayor Harvey Ward said the city will work with the state in providing the information needed for an audit. However, he can't seem to figure out how the state arrived at the numbers.

Newly appointed State CFO and FL DOGE will conduct on-site audits of local governments throughout the state. DeSantis has long criticized what he calls Broward County's "massive" budget increases.