While Palm Beach County and its 39 cities have complied with the state DOGE team鈥檚 request for detailed financial information, some municipal leaders said they can鈥檛 understand why they were forced to waste resources on what some described as a time-consuming and tedious task.
鈥淭his is information the state already has,鈥� said. 鈥淎lso, from a home rule perspective, each municipality should have the opportunity to manage their own communities.鈥�
, a Democrat, voiced similar concerns about the governor鈥檚 efficiency team.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not very efficient because all of the information they are asking for they have,鈥� Weiss said. 鈥淲e have to submit our audited financial statements to the state each year.鈥�
But when they visit cities and counties, the DOGE teams will have access to internal computer files that detail how money is spent.
READ MORE: 'A huge imposition': DOGE audit underway in Broward
Camel, who is president of the , said the undertaking has been difficult for cities both large and small.
He estimated it took his city鈥檚 21-member staff 32 hours to complete the detailed spreadsheets the state demanded. Mostly, he said, they copied information from the city鈥檚 audited financial report into the state-mandated spreadsheets.
In Jupiter, which is a behemoth compared to tiny South Bay, the town鈥檚 finance director and another worker spent about 10 hours compiling the data, a city spokesperson said. It also paid $2,400 to an auditing firm to put the data in the form required by the state.
Like other cities, Lake Worth Beach had to ask for multiple extensions because it didn鈥檛 have time to assemble all of the information while it was busy crafting next year鈥檚 budget, City Manager Jamie Brown told city commissioners at a July meeting.
鈥淚t is a pretty massive document as far as what is being requested,鈥� Brown said of the information that was sent to the state last week.
Acting County Administrator Todd Bonlarron said he didn鈥檛 know how much time staff spent fulfilling the state鈥檚 request.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know off the top of my head, but it wasn鈥檛 too significant,鈥� he wrote in an email. 鈥淭he most time was just categorizing the expenditures in the spreadsheet, but overall it was a good exercise for us.鈥�
State DOGE started with Broward, Gainesville
Failure to respond to the DOGE鈥檚 team鈥檚 demands carries potentially expensive penalties.
The state can fine municipalities $1,000 a day for every day they ignore a request for information. If the state asks for 50 pieces of information and a local government doesn鈥檛 respond, it would face possible $50,000-a-day fines that would double every day.
At a , DeSantis said he launched the team to mimic one created by President Donald Trump and headed by multibillionaire Elon Musk until he left Washington in May in a falling out with Trump.
DeSantis said he started looking for wasteful spending by state agencies and universities and is now branching into local governments.
While Palm Beach County leaders said they expect a visit soon, it isn鈥檛 at the top of the governor鈥檚 list.
Having already put 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥� in Broward County and , the state team鈥檚 next stops will be Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Orange counties and Jacksonville, DeSantis announced in a press release last week.
And to quiet skeptics who believe the government efficiency team is targeting Democratic strongholds, the state鈥檚 newly minted chief financial officer, Blaise
鈥淵ou thought we were only auditing blue counties? Guess again,鈥� the former state lawmaker from Central Florida said , announcing his team would be reviewing spending in the Gulf Coast county.
鈥淚n order to get real property tax relief, leaders in both red and blue counties need (to) take a serious look at wasteful spending,鈥� Ingoglia wrote, using the moniker @GovGoneWild.
And, even though Hillsborough County historically has been reliably blue, the Tampa area recently flipped and Republicans now hold a roughly 16,500 voter registration edge over Democrats, state records show.
Ammunition against property taxes?
, a lawyer and onetime aide to the late Democratic Gov. Bob Graham, said he suspects DeSantis is gathering ammunition to convince skeptical lawmakers to eliminate property taxes. DeSantis floated the idea this year without success. It is to be considered by the Legislature next year.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 any question that the governor and his team are trying to gather some evidence from county and city governments to either eliminate altogether or reduce property taxes around the state,鈥� .
However, DeSantis has said the effort, much like the one spearheaded by the chainsaw-wielding Musk, is to protect taxpayers from out-of-control spending.
said he began work in Broward County because it 鈥渦nfortunately in my mind is one of the worst offenders.鈥�
DeSantis said that Broward鈥檚 budget has increased 50% since 2020 even though its population has increased only 5%. He blasted it for spending $800,000 on a float in the Rose Bowl parade. County leaders balked, saying the money came from tourist tax revenues that are targeted for advertising the county as a destination.
The state DOGE team also said Jacksonville鈥檚 spending has far outstripped its population gains.
鈥淎lthough Jacksonville has taken steps in recent years to reduce millage rates on residents, rising property values have pushed annual property taxes up by over $400 million since 2020 鈥� a 57% increase,鈥� it wrote in a letter to Jacksonville鈥檚 mayor. 鈥淭he growing burden on property owners far outpaces inflation and the modest growth of population over that time.鈥�
What PBC numbers showed
Palm Beach County is likely to face similar criticism.
According to information the county provided the DOGE team, its total budget has increased 35.6% since 2021 to $8.8 billion while its population has increased 2.9%.
The total budget includes money the county receives from state and federal grants, gasoline and sales taxes, water and sewer fees and other sources. Its income from countywide property taxes has increased 29% in the past four years.
The sheriff鈥檚 budget, which accounts for almost 50% of county property tax spending and includes the county鈥檚 jails, has increased nearly 29% from $723 million in 2021 to $932 million in the current fiscal year. While the County Commission can reject the sheriff鈥檚 budget, he can appeal any cuts to the governor and Cabinet.
The county budget also includes money spent by other constitutional officers, including the tax collector, property appraiser and elections supervisor.
While DeSantis has lauded the state鈥檚 cost-cutting, the growth of its budget has outpaced population growth. Since 2021, the state budget increased by 16 percent to $117.4 billion while the population has increased 6.3 percent to 23.3 million.
The DOGE team has also indicated county school boards should be prepared to explain their spending. While in Broward County, it complained about 鈥渓arge contracts鈥� awarded by both the county and the school district.
Attorney General James Uthmeier pledged to get involved. 鈥淲e will support DOGE鈥檚 investigation and hold any bad actors accountable,鈥� he wrote on X.
Weiss said he welcomes any help the DOGE team can offer to shave spending and increase efficiency. But, he said, simply looking at numbers doesn鈥檛 tell the entire story. County services are complicated and multifaceted. The needs of its residents aren鈥檛 necessarily the same as those in other counties.
But, he said, the county will cooperate fully.
鈥淲e鈥檙e an open book,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have nothing to hide.鈥�
This story was originally published by , a SA国际传谋 News partner.
