Here’s what DOGE’s ‘audit’ allegedly found in St. Pete

When asked if any positive outcomes resulted from the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) scrutinizing St. Petersburg’s spending, Mayor Ken Welch said, “No, because it wasn’t a true audit.”

Welch, speaking Tuesday night at the State of the Bay forum, had yet to receive a final report on what DOGE allegedly discovered in August 2025. That came Wednesday afternoon, following a press conference-slash-rally from Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia.

The 98-page report, obtained by the Catalyst, blames wasteful spending on exorbitant salaries, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and “virtue-signaling about a so-called climate crisis.” DOGE dedicated four pages to highlighting multiple examples of alleged financial misconduct in St. Petersburg.

“The City of St. Petersburg’s property tax revenues and spending have grown much more rapidly than population and inflation,” the report states. “In recent years, the city has modestly reduced the millage rate several times, but … focused its attention on DEI programs and policies, rather than on spending restraint.

“Florida DOGE’s site visits identified the City of St. Petersburg as having some of the most egregious examples of wrongful DEI among the locations visited – and elected officials have publicly defended these programs.”

A graphic from the report highlighting property tax revenue increases in Florida’s largest cities over eight years.

Ingoglia, despite his disdain for bureaucracy, oversees DOGE, his self-created Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight, or FAFO, which has an explicit colloquial meaning, several divisions under the Department of Financial Services and is also the state’s fire marshal.

The governor’s appointee frequently noted Wednesday that DOGE and FAFO were separate entities. However, those combined efforts, which culminate in a push to “aggressively” reduce or eliminate property taxes, intertwine throughout the report.

DOGE touted its “data-driven methodologies to evaluate” how local governments spend taxpayer dollars. Agency reviews “rely on public records analysis, individual and statewide data requests, on-site valuations and advanced technologies, including AI.”

St. Petersburg had a general fund budget of $393.6 million and 3,452 city employees in fiscal year 2024-25, according to the report. It states that while the city’s population has increased by 1% since 2016, property tax revenues more than doubled, and general fund spending jumped by 66% during that period.

DOGE highlighted four “excessive spending” and 13 DEI-related examples of financial misconduct. The first category cites an unknown amount of “city funds spent to implement carbon reduction and electric vehicle promotion experts, following $307,000 spent on a sustainability action plan.”

However, former Mayor Rick Kriseman’s administration used $292,498 in BP settlement proceeds stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to fund the city. The remaining $14,801 came from general fund expenditures in fiscal years 2017 through 2019.

Another example of excessive spending is “tens of thousands of dollars spent on small-dollar grants to organizations, many with extreme ideological missions to promote DEI objectives or other inappropriate missions.”

The Mayor’s Office has received $1.1 million in salary increases since 2019, with two staff members earning raises totalling over 60%, according to the report. “Looking at the 10 largest cities in Florida, only in two (Miami and St. Petersburg) did the number of non-public safety staff increase substantially faster than the rate of population growth.”

St. Petersburg hired 355 new employees, a 10% increase, between 2019 and 2025. Ingoglia said Wednesday that all but 65 were “absolutely nothing but bureaucrats and administrative personnel.”

The report’s DEI examples of misappropriations include a $219,000 salary for a chief equity officer, $87,000 for an LGBTQ coordinator, $102,000 for a cultural affairs director and $123,000 for a community justice liaison. Welch’s administration rebranded the Office of Equity to the Office of Community Impact in September 2025.

DOGE admonished the city for paying $949,000 to nine employees within the Office of Supplier Diversity, now known as the Office of Supplier Development, last year. The report also highlights an “unlawful race, ethnicity and gender-based hiring targets for 80% of city positions.”

“These targets exist despite having 43% minority staff in the ranks of city workers, exceeding the minority share of the city population,” it added.

The agency previously claimed that the city contributed $258,000 to St. Pete Pride. That number is now nearly $100,000 annually for “multiple” related events, including “those that groom minors, such as Pride Youth and Family Day.”

Mayor Ken Welch (left) at the State of the Bay forum, presented Tuesday night by the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club. Photo: City of St. Petersburg.

Ingoglia, unlike the report, did not mention DEI initiatives Wednesday and instead focused on an allegedly excessive workforce. Welch, in a subsequent prepared statement, said his administration was working to verify claims made in the press conference.

“Recent events remind us of the harm that false and politically motivated statements can create,” Welch added.

He told State of the Bay attendees Tuesday that 98% of property taxes fund the police and fire departments. Welch said the city has tried to increase its number of sworn officers for decades, “and that costs money.”

An accountant by trade, Welch said he loves audits. Those show “a lot of good things, when you do it right.”

“We’re audited every year, obviously,” he added. “This wasn’t an audit.”

Welch noted that many state officials plan to “run on this issue of reducing property taxes,” and DOGE was simply “solving for X.” He questioned how Florida would replace that money without doubling the sales tax and quickly returning that money to cities and counties. “That dog won’t hunt.”

“Every few years the Legislature tries to scapegoat local governments as being bloated, when we know there’s a lot of waste and fraud in Tallahassee,” Welch said.

DOGE singled out Mayor Ken Welch’s seemingly innocuous Pillars for Progress.