Over the past few weeks, a series of communications between the rightfully outraged chairman of the Seminole County Commission and the state\u2019s unelected chief financial officer have pulled back the curtains on the state\u2019s DOGE-and-pony show.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a financial sham, based on shaky numbers that never held up, and justifications that the state accepts as valid in one county but wholly ignores in the county next door. Despite that reality, this entire sorry episode carries a real risk: That Floridians will remember Blaise Ingoglia\u2019s allegations last month of wasteful spending in local budgets across the state, without understanding how budget figures were manipulated to produce the big, round numbers printed on accusatory signs.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what Ingoglia and Gov. Ron DeSantis (who appointed Ingoglia to fill the unexpired term of former CFO Jimmy Patronis) appear to have in mind. Their end goal is to execute one of the largest power plays in the history of Florida government, hobbling local leaders\u2019 ability to levy the property taxes that supply a third or more of their annual budgets. This, in turn, would strip power from local officials and concentrate control in Tallahassee, clearing the way for the state\u2019s top leaders to turn the \u201cFree State of Florida\u201d into a swamp of radical ideology that elevates attacks on drag queens and \u201cwoke\u201d viewpoints over real problems like crowded roads, growing poverty rates and suffering schools.<\/p>\n
Why would they want to do that \u2014 and why are they using false claims of wasteful spending to bend the minds of Florida voters? The answer is simple: County and city officials rub elbows with their constituents every day. If water bills are too high, if garbage collection is too infrequent, if police are missing from neighborhoods where they are needed \u2014 they hear about it. And they ignore these concerns at their peril. It\u2019s a constant process of grounding that, in the best-governed cities and counties, discourages partisan excess and stresses open, responsive government built to fit each community\u2019s needs and residents\u2019 willingness to pay the bills.<\/p>\n
This view of government of and by the people is anathema to the authoritarian line that spouts enemy-of-the-week distractions while diverting billions to shadowy enterprises and wealthy donors. And it all starts with these fake and scripted claims of \u201cwasteful, excessive spending.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first press conference was in Orlando, unleashing a barrage of criticism against Orange County officials, whom Ingoglia accused of wasteful spending to the tune of nearly $200 million over the past five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernments are spending money left and right. Your property taxes have been going up and up \u2026 they think you are an endless ATM,\u201d Ingoglia said.<\/p>\n
But Ingoglia failed to name a single significant example of wasteful spending in Orange County. Instead, he based his claim on a murky equation that he said accounted for inflation and population growth (though the sketchy numbers he provided never added up the way he claimed they did. Since then, Ingoglia has held at least seven other press conferences \u2014 in Broward, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Manatee and Seminole counties as well as the cities of Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville. Outside of Manatee and Seminole counties, all of these jurisdictions are controlled by Democrats. That\u2019s no coincidence \u2014 Ingoglia is shamelessly, viciously partisan. During his term in the Florida Senate, he sponsored a bill that would have abolished the state\u2019s Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
At every stop, the script is the same: Ingoglia announces a figure that he claims represents \u201cgeneral fund\u201d spending five years ago. Then he subtracts a sum he attributes to population growth and inflation (a clear attempt to make his figuring look fair). Finally, he compares that number to the current year\u2019s budget and proclaims the difference to be wasteful and excessive.<\/p>\n
The same day Ingoglia hit Orange County, Mayor Jerry Demings pointed out multiple examples of bad math in Ingoglia\u2019s calculations. He also pointed out that the supposed \u201caudit\u201d ignores several obvious variables \u2014 such as the fact that Orange County\u2019s budget has to cover service to millions of people who visit the area every month, or the reality that local-government budgets have bulged over the past five years as they took in billions of dollars\u2019 worth of COVID-related funding. That money must be spent by the end of 2026, and for the most part cannot be used toward the routine activities of local government that are currently funded by property taxes.<\/p>\n
More importantly, the CFO\u2019s \u201caudits\u201d have yet to identify a single significant example of legitimate, major overspending. Instead, he\u2019s taken potshots at relatively tiny expenditures \u2014 a hologram of Jacksonville\u2019s mayor greeting airport visitors or a mocking reference to Orlando\u2019s poet laureate program that will cost the city a princely $6,000 next year.<\/p>\n
We could go on about the fickle reality of Ingoglia\u2019s calculations. But there\u2019s a lot of ground to cover.<\/p>\n
And it starts in Seminole County. Normally, Seminole wouldn\u2019t have been on Ingoglia\u2019s list. Every single member of its County Commission is a rock-ribbed Republican, and the county usually flies under the radar of political scandal.<\/p>\n
The Sentinel\u2019s Scott Maxwell, however, threw down a lure Ingoglia apparently couldn\u2019t resist, in a scathing column that accused the CFO of ignoring the county\u2019s recent $60 million increase in property, fuel and utility taxes while blasting Orange County \u2014 which has not raised its property-tax rate in nearly a decade. A week later, Ingoglia was trotting out his flawed formula in a press conference where he claimed the county was overspending by $77 million.<\/p>\n
County Commission Chairman Jay Zembower clapped back almost immediately, picking up many of the points Demings cited for Orange County, then adding a list of state-required increases in local spending that included $152 million in increased spending for \u201cconstitutional officers,\u201d most of which went to the sheriff\u2019s department.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what Zembower didn\u2019t have to say: Seminole County residents are, for the most part, happy with the way their county is run. They trust their local leaders so much that they have voted, overwhelmingly, to take on an extra penny of sales tax to cover infrastructure that property taxes alone couldn\u2019t pay for. And they don\u2019t hesitate to communicate their priorities, including strict boundaries on urban growth that frustrate would-be developers.<\/p>\n
Bright-red Seminole County is, as it turns out, an excellent example of local officials putting the needs and wishes of their constituents above partisanship.<\/p>\n
Of course, none of that was mentioned last week when Ingoglia meekly stepped back from his Seminole criticisms. Instead, the CFO thanked the county for its \u201copenness, cooperation and dialogue,\u201d then concluded, \u201cPlease continue looking out for the taxpayers of Seminole County.\u201d<\/p>\n
Compare this to his attack on Orange County, and the hypocrisy is searing. Many of the issues Zembower cited, including the mandate to pay for SunRail, are just as true in Orange County. In fact, Orange also bears much of the burden for social services and homelessness response across a multi-county region. Compared to Zembower\u2019s letter, Demings\u2019 response was even more voluminous and credible. The only explanation for Ingoglia\u2019s silence we can see is this: While Seminole County is dominated by Republicans, Orange County is heavily Democratic.<\/p>\n
Orange County is also one of the state\u2019s biggest piggy banks, with its flourishing tourism-based economy collecting about $350 million in sales taxes each year \u2014 most of which flows to Tallahassee. So the CFO is not just tampering with local officials on a partisan basis. He\u2019s threatening to mess with a county government that, in many ways, has been fine-tuned to support the hospitality industry. We\u2019ve already heard a prelude of this tune, when DeSantis shoved through disruptive legislation to seize control of the special taxing district created to provide services to the Disney megaplex. His rash arrogance had an immediate price tag: Disney cancelled a plan to move 2,000 high-paying jobs to Lake Nona.<\/p>\n
This is the kind of mischief Ingoglia\u2019s antics could cause across Florida. And we only see one workable defense: Seminole County should lock arms with Orange County \u2014 and across the state, red and blue jurisdictions should align their message. And the majority of state lawmakers who started their public-service careers in local boards and commissions should stand with them.<\/p>\n
DeSantis, Ingoglia and other state officials are using a seductive ruse \u2014 property tax cuts \u2013 to lead Floridians down a reckless, destructive path. It\u2019s going to take an army to fight back, and leaders of communities large and small, conservative and liberal, must prepare for battle.<\/p>\n