Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced the preliminary findings of the Florida Department of Government Efficiency's audit of Broward County, alleging that the county has tallied nearly $190 million of wasteful spending in the past five years.
Ingoglia unveiled the findings Tuesday at a press conference at Keiser University's Pembroke Pines Campus.
鈥溾�奣hey're expanding way past inflation and population growth. So when your local governments say that they are, they're not being exactly truthful to you. There's no other way to put it,鈥� he said.
Florida DOGE performed an onsite audit of the county鈥檚 finances that began July 31. But the report from that audit, which Ingoglia calls a 鈥淒OGE report鈥� has not yet been released, instead Ingoglia presented the findings of what he calls a 鈥淔AFO audit.鈥� FAFO stands for the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight, and its abbreviation is, like DOGE, a reference to a meme.
He laid out the methodology for a FAFO audit which spanned from 2019-2024:
鈥溾�奧e increased the budget every year for inflation and population, and then got to a number of where the budget should be today 鈥� we added not one but two buffers on top of that, a 5% buffer and a 10% buffer鈥hat's the number where the budget probably should be or could be,鈥� he said.
Ingoglia did not specify if he used Broward or statewide inflation data in those calculations; however, using those metrics, Ingoglia said Broward鈥檚 budget should have only increased by $427 million. Ingoglia reasoned that the county鈥檚 actual $617 million budget increase in the last 5 years constitutes $190 million of 鈥渨asteful spending.鈥� Broken out over five years, that represents around $35 million over overspend per year. Broward's general fund for 2025 is around $2 billion.
鈥�"They could very easily offer affordability relief in the form of property tax relief if they cut their large, wasteful, bloated budget." he said
READ MORE: 'A huge imposition': DOGE audit underway in Broward
Ingoglia did not give specifics on any particular instances of wasteful spending saying that he 鈥渄idn鈥檛 want to get ahead of the DOGE report鈥�, but he contends that the growth of Broward鈥檚 budget is proof enough. He did not give a timeline for the release of the full report.
鈥溾�奣he government expansion itself is waste, fraud, and abuse. The government expanding is the excessive spending itself,鈥� he said.
Ingoglia also stumped for a potential ballot initiative in 2026 for property tax relief. Governor Ron DeSantis has touted a plan that would eliminate property taxes on homesteaded properties in Florida.
鈥溾�奣his is an issue 鈥� property taxes 鈥� that transcends a lot of different spaces in our economy. The people have been demanding property tax relief. We should give it to them on the November 2026 ballot,鈥� he said.
The results of the audit underdelivered what was promised by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who claimed in April that Broward County鈥檚 budget had increased by 82% in the past five years. Ingoglia said Tuesday that number was just over 47%.
Ingoglia also admitted that the Broward Sheriff鈥檚 Office was not part of this audit, despite being Broward鈥檚 single largest expenditure.
鈥溾�奧hat I will tell you is that we have received numerous inquiries about the sheriff's budget here. All I can say with that is that we should be protecting people, but we should also balance the taxpayer with making sure we keep people safe at the same time,鈥� he said.
Last year, BSO鈥檚 newly unveiled training facility was found in an audit to have exceeded original construction estimates by more than double, from an expected cost of $34 million to a final cost of nearly $75 million.
