Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia took aim at Osceola County Wednesday, accusing it of reckless spending in the tens of millions of dollars.
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Ingoglia calculated the county overspent by $165 million last year and said an audit is coming during at a press conference in a St. Cloud-area Italian restaurant.
His look into Osceola’s budget is the latest in his year-long FAFO — which officially stands for “Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight,” but also happens to correspond with “F*** Around and Find Out” — tour of counties and cities across the state.
“Osceola County is just like all the other governments that we have reviewed,” Ingoglia said. “They are taking your hard-earned tax dollars and they are spending it like drunken sailors. Osceola is drowning in waste.”
In response, County Manager Don Fisher sent Ingoglia’s office a letter on Wednesday on behalf of the county commission that said it “looks forward to continued collaboration with FAFO.” County officials argued they have already attempted to cut costs.
“In fact, over the past year, the County has implemented several initiatives consistent with FAFO’s government efficiency efforts, including reducing duplicative technology expenditures, evaluating contracted versus in-house services, partnering with the Clerk of the Circuit Court & County Comptroller on its Fraud, Waste & Abuse Hotline, and adopting a zero-based budgeting approach,” the letter says.
Fisher also argued a population boom, state mandates to fund certain programs and infrastructure demands driven by the population and tourism have forced its budget to grow.
“Despite the … actual increase in growth, the Board has continued to hold its general millage rate at 6.7 mills for the past 15 years, providing stability our residents have come to rely on,” Fisher wrote.
Ingoglia defended his methodology from critics who contend the population boom in the county requires the county to spend more, arguing the county’s budget exceeded inflation and growth.
Osceola County has ballooned to a population of over 468,000 in 2024, up from 388,000 in 2020, the latest Census data shows.
“There was an astounding amount of population growth,” Ingoglia said. “We get that. In fact we take that into the calculation.”
Ingoglia explained Osceola’s budget calculations while holding up a poster board with the figures.
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Over the last six years, the county, like the rest of the state, incurred rising costs due to inflation to the tune of 25.5%. Estimating the county’s population growth to be 32.39%, he said, adding the inflation percentage to the population growth should have meant the county’s budget increased by only around 58%. Instead it increased by 102%.
“The general fund budget more than doubled … over the last six years,” Ingoglia said. “We had a rise in property values, corresponding rising property taxes, and your government took it all and spent it like drunken sailors.”
His presence in St.Cloud comes just a day after a press conference in Palm Beach County where he criticized the county’s “wasteful spending” for a second time.
He was met on Tuesday with swift response from county administrator Joseph Abruzzo, who crashed the press conference and defended his county’s budget.
It was the latest clash in a yearlong crusade by Ingoglia and his team from the Florida Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE, hosting press conferences citing wasteful spending in cities and counties across the state including last year in Orlando, Orange and Seminole Counties.
All together over the last year, Ingoglia said he has “exposed” over $3.6 billion in excessive spending.
Ingoglia used the press conference to advocate for the property tax referendum in November, which would severely constrict local government revenue, and said he would push for a taxpayer bill of rights that outlaws any increase in government spending above population or inflation before his term is up.
“People always want to talk about affordability,” Ingoglia said. “Unfortunately the Osceola government is making things unaffordable itself by not delivering property tax cuts. Governments are wasting money left and right and …the taxpayers have had enough.”
A Florida’s Revenue Estimating Conference, a panel of economists that studies the fiscal impacts of legislation, estimates Osceola stands to lose about $253 million annually if voters approve the property tax reform in November.
County commissioners had discussed the impacts of a cut in property taxes during a workshop meeting on Monday, including potentially cutting school resources officers and adding fees.
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