Blaise Ingoglia, Florida’s recently appointed chief financial officer, announced Alachua County wasted almost $85 million in taxpayer money after a state Department of Government Efficiency audit.
“This amount of spending is an eye-popping number for a local government,” he said.
The CFO held a press conference at Wolf Health & Performance Group in the city of Alachua Sept. 25 in front of a crowd of about 50 people. The DOGE audit found Alachua County wasted taxpayer money to expand its bureaucracy, he said, though he did not specify what programs or positions Alachua County wasted the money on. State auditors visited the county’s office Aug. 13 and Aug. 14.
“It is not our job to highlight line by line exactly what the administration, the city manager, the administrators should cut,” he said. “ It's not our job to micromanage.”
Alachua County spokesperson Mark Sexton said in a statement Alachua County has been transparent and cooperative with the state’s DOGE staff.
“We had no advanced knowledge of information shared at the press conference and are reviewing it,” he wrote in a text to The Alligator. “We look forward to reading the full report.”
The state-reported $85 million includes property tax funds and “a lot of other fees and services” the county charges for, Ingoglia said, though he didn’t specify the fees. The wasted dollars include “Covid dollars” the county is still spending, he added.
The DOGE report, he said, will specify what line items are “not a good use of taxpayer dollars.” Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office will release the report relatively soon, Ingoglia added.
The state can’t force local governments to cut their budgets, but Ingoglia said it can pressure them to do so. The DOGE task force has spent the last two months auditing local governments, and it plans to put an amendment on the 2026 ballot so citizens can vote for property tax relief.
Ingoglia previously ordered a sweeping audit of Gainesville in July, just a day after DeSantis appointed him to the Chief Financial Officer position. He accused the city, one of seven in Alachua County, of ranking among the “worst offenders” of unnecessary spending in the state. The results of that audit are not yet public.
In Alachua, about 20% of the current fiscal year’s budget comes from property taxes, according to a county press release. The figure is about average compared to other Florida counties, based on a 2023 report from Florida TaxWatch that estimated about one-fifth of city and county revenue across the state comes from property taxes.
Alachua County has lowered its millage rate, or the dollars taxpayers give for every $1,000 of property value, every year for the last nine years. In 2024, an average Alachua County property owner paid $714, while the state average was $942.
Alachua County is the fourth local government Florida has announced audit results for. DOGE earlier this month announced the findings of Orange County, Jacksonville and Hillsborough County.
As the state’s CFO, Ingoglia said he would not stand by idly while local governments “lie to the taxpayers” to keep their “large bloated budgets.” The audience clapped in response.
Since the 2019-2020 fiscal year, the county has grown by 15,506 people and added 136 positions to its government, Ingoglia said, although he did not cite sources or specify a time frame of reference.
Census Bureau figures indicate the county grew by about 22,700 people from 2019 to 2024, the year of the most recently available one-year American Community Survey.
The local government budget, when adjusted for inflation using 2019-2020 as a baseline, has increased disproportionately to its population — growing by almost $9,000 per person who moves into Alachua County, and almost $36,000 for every family of four, Ingoglia said.
“That math is not mathing,” he said.
The all-funds budget for 2020, based on county records, totalled about $541 million after accounting for a mid-year budget amendment. That figure grew to $947 million by the current fiscal year — a total six-year increase of about 40% after adjusting for inflation.
Ingoglia said he’ll be back in Gainesville within the next few weeks to announce the city’s audit results.
Contact Maria Avlonitis at mavlonitis@alligator.org. Follow her on X @MariaAvlonitis.
Maria is the Fall 2025 university editor of the Alligator. She previously worked as the university administration reporter Summer 2025. Maria enjoys walking her dog, and on the rare occassion she has free time, she loves attempting to garden and salsa dancing.
