GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Tuesday morning to announce the rollout of what he called “DOGE efforts” to review local governments across the state.
DeSantis held two separate news conferences, one in Broward County and another in Gainesville, as they will be the first jurisdictions to go through the DOGE reviews.
“Starting at the end of July, you’ll have the DOGE teams will show up to these areas, review data systems, review the physical premises, review the personnel records of counties and cities, specifically ones that have kind of come under the microscope,” DeSantis said. “So this is much different than me just sending a letter saying, ‘Hey, you know, what did you spend that on?’ These could be real auditors that are going to be on the ground doing this.”
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The recently-appointed Florida Department of Financial Services Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia joined the governor and emphasized the importance of having a “meaningful spending reform.”
“Local government revenue coming in are expanding anywhere between like 60 to 120%. They’re taking the extra tax revenue. They’re spending it recklessly. We are seeing it, and I hate to say that you guys are living in a city where one of the worst offenders are we believe,” Ingoglia said, referring to the City of Gainesville.
DeSantis said he will announce more jurisdictions that will be subject to these audits in the coming weeks.
“If you’re a Floridian, whether it’s city or county government, taxpayers should be put first. Taxpayers should be respected, and that’s what we’re trying to do here,” DeSantis said.