Blaise Ingoglia, accuses multiple counties of excessive spending in an already contested report, focusing on DEI initiatives and other expenses.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — During a press conference on Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Blaise Ingoglia, the chief financial officer of Florida, accused the city of “wasteful” and “excessive” spending. But the claims by Florida’s DOGE go beyond the Pinellas County city. 

In a report obtained by 10 Tampa Bay News, Ingoglia’s team also accuses Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties of that type of spending.

The report reviewed multiple local and county governments, flagging things like Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and environmental efforts as waste. It also calls law enforcement, firefighting and emergency management examples of core government responsibilities.

10 Tampa Bay News reached out to each county for comment regarding these claims. The counties said they would provide a response later on, since they initially did not receive a copy of the report.


Hillsborough County

A lengthy list for the county says there is “excessive spending” in areas like staffing, arts and DEI.

The DOGE report argues that multiple cities and counties in Florida have “perpetrated overt discrimination in the name of DEI,” adding as an example that “Hillsborough County runs a 22 member ‘Diversity Advisory Council’ where members are chosen on the basis of their race, sexual orientation and/or gender.”

The list of items includes a 22% pay increase for government employees over two fiscal years. It criticized the average county employee salary of $64,000+ in 2023, which DOGE says is ahead of the area’s annual median wage of $47,000+. DOGE also claims that car allowances for 309 county employees totaling $950,000 is part of the county’s “excessive” spending.

Regarding arts, the report says the county spent “$500K in film subsidies for forgettable projects.” It also calls out a $204,000 expense for a piano in a performing arts center.

Regarding grants, the DOGE report is critical of the “Grant Management Dashboard” which tracks spending and budgeting for projects. It states that, “Reviewers identified numerous grants demonstrating 50% or greater of spending in excess of the budgeted amounts, totaling over $14 million in spending in excess of the budgets.”

The report claims that $900,000 paid to the National Coalition of 1000 Black Women and $175,000 for the Community Initiative for Young Artists are examples of “excessive spending.” It claims these grants were classified as “Healthcare Services.”

The reports examples of DEI include “Hillsborough has two senior executives whose high salaries appear attributable to DEI roles.” The report claims these are the roles of “Assistant County Administrator for Equity and Community Impact,” with a  $170,000 salary. The other role is the “Assistant County Administrator for Compliance, Communities and Conservation” for $256,000, which DOGE claims has received more than $100,000 in raises since 2014.

DOGE’s report also claims the county spent $572,000 on an external contract for training on “unconscious bias,” and flagged “thousands of hours of training for staff on ‘DEI in the Workplace'” for senior executives in the county.


Manatee County

With Manatee County, the themes are different from what DOGE says is wasteful or excessive in Hillsborough and St. Pete. It includes items on office space, water taxis and information outreach expansions.

The report says the county’s “excessive spending examples” include $35 million for 100,000 square feet of county office space, which DOGE says followed a $6 million investment on another administration building.

Regarding the water taxi, the report says the county spent $3 million in its expansion, including the purchase of a 91-passenger boat “based on questionable assumptions.”

DOGE argues the county spent the money saying it was due to “ridership growth.” But, the report says the services provided by the water taxi were sparse, citing that in 2024, it operated 15 days and that data indicates “that on its busiest days, each trip averaged just 13 passengers.”

The report is also critical of the Gulf Coast Water Taxi service exceeding its estimated operational costs.

The report adds as an example of DEI spending an instructor-led training on Diversity and Inclusion for Management, which was attended by 55 supervisors.


Pinellas County

When it comes to claims regarding Pinellas County, DOGE flagged items related to unhoused communities, the Tampa Bay Rays, DEI, Pride and vendors, but it gives credit to the county for being an early adopter of a resolution supporting the Florida DOGE and for “lowering the [millage] rate from 5.2755 mills in Fiscal Year 2020-21 to 4.5423 mills in Fiscal Year 2025-26.”

The examples the report claims as excessive include $1.7 million “in growth over three years in spending on the homeless.”

DOGE says that spending $466,000 in sports consulting fees during the negotiations with the Tampa Bay Rays is another example.

“$2.7 million in large terminal leave payouts, exceeding 25% of salaries,” the report reads, citing that at least one employee each year received terminal leave payouts.

The items listed as DEI examples for Pinellas County include $75,000 for the Pride festival, noting that the county is the “title sponsor” and that every media buy, “except one is targeted locally.”

“County staff faced mandatory participation in DEI trainings in 2021 and 2022 on subjects as the importance of pronouns and so-called ‘unconscious bias,'” the report claims among the list of their wasteful spending report, adding criticism to the county saying that the “#1 reason for adverse health outcomes in minority groups” is caused by “perceived discrimination.”

Pinellas County has previously defended expenses like the Pride events. Mayor Ken Welch called the findings of the report regarding St. Pete “unsubstantiated.”

You can review the report here.