NORTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) – Florida Chief Financial Office Blaise Ingoglia made a South Florida stop in Miami-Dade County as part of his fiscal oversight tour throughout the state.

In a news conference, Thursday, the CFO criticized the county’s budget for being excessively high.

“I’m here to tell the great people of Miami-Dade how much their local government has overspent and overtaxed them. In just five years, Miami-Dade’s budget grew nearly $844 billion. There’s no other way to put this but you are being overtaxed,” he said.

According to Ingoglia, using Miami-Dade’s 2019 budget as a baseline, the county’s 2024 budget was $2.52 billion, which he says, should have been closer to $2.25 billion based on inflation and population growth.

“Where the blue ends is where we think that they should be indexing for inflation and population and the red is the amount that your local government is excessively and wastefully spending,” he said.

Throughout his remarks, he brought out cutouts of figures to make his point. One of those figures pointed to the amount of new full time hires made by the county in the past five years.

“This number is shocking. Two-thousand-eight-hundred- forty-three new full time employees,” he said.

The CFO has visited several spots across South Florida in recent weeks, including the City of Miami and Broward County.

In Miami, he said the current spending levels is untenable.

“If this was a business, the City of Miami would go bankrupt,” he said. “There’s no two ways to say it. It would.”

While in Broward, he exposed what he claims is excessive spending and bloated budgets.

Overall, Ingoglia says the state’s Department of Government Efficiency effort has “exposed” $1.5 billion in overspending.

“Over nine local governments that we have analyzed spending, we are now over the $1.5 billion mark of wasteful and excessive spending identified,” he said.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez was present during the CFO’s Miami-Dade remarks. When asked what he would like to see cut from the county budget, he said there were certain expenditures that might not be necessary.

“Not a fan of the Heat office,” said Gonzalez.

The county’s heat office was created in 2021 through a grant to address heat-related health risks. It’s since been embedded into the Environmental Resources Management Department.

“It’s important to have marketing to let people know that it’s hot, but maybe that’s something that is not necessary right now. More efficiencies are what we need to find,” said Gonzalez.

Ingoglia said a full report showing the examples of waste and abuse in the county will be released soon after auditors comb through the financial books.

In response to Ingoglia’s news conference, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she runs one of the most fiscally responsible administrations in the country. She cited numerous tax cuts under her term while also prioritizing public safety funding.

“My administration has found ways to put money back in taxpayers’ pockets and keep costs low for our families while investing in your priorities. We welcome continued communication and engagement with the state and our community,” she said.

Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox