{"id":17850,"date":"2025-10-23T21:17:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/17850\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T21:17:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T21:17:18","slug":"blaise-ingoglia-says-miami-exceeds-appropriate-spending-by-94m-per-year-calls-budget-bulge-worst-in-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/17850\/","title":{"rendered":"Blaise Ingoglia says Miami exceeds appropriate spending by $94M per year, calls budget bulge worst in state"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami isn\u2019t alone in having an overspending problem, but it\u2019s by far the worst example among local governments that Florida is auditing under its DOGE<\/a> initiative, CFO Blaise Ingoglia says.<\/p>\n

At an afternoon press conference in the \u201cMagic City,\u201d Ingoglia said that even after accounting for factors often cited in explaining bloating budgets \u2014 from inflation, population growth and money for more first responders to raises for law enforcement and general government employees \u2014 Miami \u201cblew past\u201d the appropriate spending number by $94 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this was a business, the city of Miami would go bankrupt,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is money that should be back in the hands of the taxpayer and not in the hands of a government bureaucrat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holding up posters displaying charts and figures in front of a room full of government, media and business attendees, Ingoglia went over what he called damning numbers.<\/p>\n

Between 2019 and 2024, he said, Miami\u2019s general fund budget ballooned by 44%, a $358 million uptick in five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s more than double what we\u2019re seeing (elsewhere),\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, we had to go back through these numbers three, four, five times to make sure it\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over those five years, Miami added 193 full-time employees \u2014 some first responders, but many in bureaucratic posts \u2014 as its population grew by just 23,000 residents. Every time someone moves to Miami, Ingoglia said, the city\u2019s budget grows by $15,320.<\/p>\n

Notably, Miami\u2019s per-year budget breakdowns<\/a> show a general fund of $763 million in 2019<\/a> and a general fund of $1.043 million in 2024<\/a> \u2014 a $280 million difference.<\/p>\n

Ingoglia said he chose 2019 as a comparison date because it was the last normal year before COVID upended normal spending and budget metrics. Miami\u2019s City Manager that year was Emilio Gonz\u00e1lez, who is running for Mayor with an endorsement<\/a> from Gov. Ron DeSantis, with whom Ingoglia is closely allied. The following year, current City Manager Art Noriega took over.<\/p>\n

Asked if the Department of Financial Services and DOGE would release its numbers to the public, Ingoglia said yes. He said local governments will no doubt try to mislead voters, but that it\u2019s all subterfuge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are going to cry. They are going to do everything they can to convince you, the taxpayer, that they need every single dollar,\u201d he said. \u201c(Miami) could have given all that money back to the taxpayers. But they chose not to. They chose to spend it. The taxpayers could have received a 0.05-mil reduction in their property taxes and not even have skipped a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by an identically named federal initiative launched under billionaire Elon Musk, DeSantis rolled out the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Task Force in February<\/a> to slash state and local budgets and make government as \u201clean and efficient as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the months that followed and under Ingoglia, a former Senator whom DeSantis tapped as Chief Financial Officer<\/a> in July, the DOGE effort set its auditing sights on many local governments<\/a>, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Orange counties, and cities like Miami, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

By Thursday\u2019s press conference, Ingoglia said, DOGE has uncovered \u201cmore than $1.1 billion in wasteful, excessive spending\u201d in this year alone across just eight localities. That\u2019s after considering inflation, population growth, pay raises and other variables.<\/p>\n

He likened the current overspending he says is rampant in Florida to a shift seen across the U.S. in the mid-2010s, when rising property values led to increased property tax revenue and, in turn, expanded governments that frequently mismanaged the extra funds it received.<\/p>\n

It led to a \u201cproperty tax revolt\u201d in Florida, he continued, which ultimately resulted in the establishment of a second $25,000 homestead property tax exemption. But because of the way the exemption was designed, combined with soaring property values over the past decade, the tax exemption program that once relieved homeowners of as much as 33% of their property\u2019s taxable value now covers about 9%.<\/p>\n

Ingoglia opened the press conference by discussing not Miami\u2019s alleged overspending but the general issue of property taxation \u2014 a priority shared by DeSantis and leaders in the Legislature ahead of the 2026 Session.<\/p>\n

In February, the Governor called for higher homestead tax exemption levels and Ingoglia sprang into action, filing a pair of companion measures<\/a> to raise the limit to $75,000. Neither bill was heard.<\/p>\n

DeSantis has said he\u2019d be open to wiping out property taxes altogether<\/a>, something Ocala Republican Rep.\u00a0Ryan Chamberlin\u00a0proposed last year.<\/p>\n

After the end of the Legislature\u2019s protracted 2025 Session, House Speaker Daniel Perez \u2014 a Miami resident \u2014 assembled a Select Committee on Property Taxes<\/a> to delve into the matter and produce actionable recommendations for delivering homeowners relief. The result came last week: a package of eight joint resolutions<\/a> that would go directly to voters for approval if passed in the Legislature next year.<\/p>\n

Chamberlin contemporaneously and separately filed the first of what he said is a three-bill package to roll back current property tax levels<\/a> to 2022-23 levels.<\/p>\n

DeSantis derided the House proposals on Wednesday as being part of a \u201cpolitical game<\/a>\u201d Perez, whom he\u2019s frequently clashed<\/a> with since Perez took the gavel<\/a> late last year, is playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlacing more than one property tax measure on the ballot represents an attempt to kill anything on property taxes,\u201d the Governor said on X.<\/p>\n

Perez fired back<\/a> Thursday, noting that despite DeSantis\u2019 stated support of delivering tax relief to Floridians, he \u201chas not produced a plan\u201d to do so and isn\u2019t willing \u201cto engage in a conversation\u201d with House leadership to get it done.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when the Governor says he wants to \u2018abolish\u2019 property taxes. How? We don\u2019t have any details,\u201d he said. \u201cWe offered multiple proposals in good faith because it is unclear to us what \u2014 if anything \u2014 any other party is willing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something needs to be done, said Americans for Prosperity Florida<\/a> Strategic Director Rachel Moscoco, Ingoglia\u2019s guest speaker at the Miami press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cProperty taxes are making it harder to live, work and thrive in the Sunshine State,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s why these audits matter \u2026 because informed citizens are empowered citizens. Let\u2019s be bold, let\u2019s be principled, and let\u2019s be relentless in our pursuit of a Florida where home ownership is secure, government is lean and taxpayers are respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

A September report<\/a> by the Florida Policy Institute<\/a> found that eliminating property taxes statewide \u2014 the second-largest source<\/a> of per capita revenue after federal transfers \u2014 would create a more than $50 billion budget hole for local governments. Ending property taxes only for homesteaded properties would result in a $18.5 billion reduction in county, municipal and district coffers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami isn\u2019t alone in having an overspending problem, but it\u2019s by far the worst example among local governments…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[14875,2855,6059,3094,13487,123,125,124,14876,7074,14877,412,8194],"class_list":{"0":"post-17850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-americans-for-prosperity-florida","9":"tag-blaise-ingoglia","10":"tag-daniel-perez","11":"tag-doge","12":"tag-florida-policy-institute","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-miami-headlines","15":"tag-miami-news","16":"tag-miami-spending","17":"tag-property-taxes","18":"tag-rachel-moscoco","19":"tag-ron-desantis","20":"tag-ryan-chamberlin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}