WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Florida Chief Monetary Officer Blaise Ingoglia spotlighted Palm Seaside County because the state’s greatest instance of presidency overspending, saying the county posted $344 million in extreme or wasteful spending in a single yr as a part of a broader statewide sample.
“Palm Seaside County must do higher. The taxpayers deserve higher,” Ingoglia stated throughout a property tax aid presentation this week.
Ingoglia stated Palm Seaside County’s determine is the biggest waste whole uncovered up to now via audits carried out by the Florida Company for Fiscal Oversight, which has reviewed 11 native governments. In all, he stated the audits present greater than $1.9 billion in extreme spending statewide over the previous fiscal yr.
“It’s at all times good to remind authorities that it’s not their cash. It’s our cash,” Ingoglia stated.
In keeping with the CFO’s workplace, the county’s finances has grown 58% over the previous 5 years regardless of including about 88,000 residents. Ingoglia argued that the county may have diminished its millage price by 0.55 mills with out affecting providers.
Ingoglia stated the spending figures are based mostly on evaluating every authorities’s pre-pandemic 2019–2020 finances to present spending, adjusted for inflation and inhabitants progress. Any quantity over that baseline is deemed extreme.
He additionally criticized what he known as a recurring “scare tactic” from native officers who warn that police and hearth providers will undergo if cuts are made.
“If that’s what they are saying will harm first, then they’re not prioritizing hearth and police,” he stated.
Ingoglia is urging lawmakers to position a property tax reform modification on the 2026 poll, saying voters ought to have the ability to curb unchecked authorities progress.
“There is just one means you’re going to have the ability to cease native governments from spending your cash and losing it, and that could be a constitutional modification,” he stated.
