State audit flags $190M issue in Broward spending. ‘That math just does not math’
Florida chief financial officer Blaise Ingoglia visited Broward on Tuesday, Sept. 30, as part of his Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight audits, claiming the county has nearly $190 million of wasteful spending in its general fund budget.
The audit is tied to the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative aimed at exposing what Ingoglia calls ballooning local budgets that he says are worsening Florida’s housing affordability crisis.
“When governments say that they’re not able to cut, it’s because they don’t want to cut. They can,” Ingoglia said. “They can offer you property tax relief. They’re choosing not to.”
The results of the county’s onsite audit were revealed at Keiser University’s Pembroke Pines campus.
Also in attendance were State Rep. Chip LaMarca (R-District 100), Rep. Hillary Cassel (R-District 101), James Madison Institute board member Harout J. Samra, and Broward business owner Grace Muños.
Broward was the fifth stop in Ingoglia’s audit tour, following Hillsborough, Duval, Alachua and Orange counties. Across those four counties, Ingoglia said the audits have identified $754 million in wasteful or excessive spending.
Broward’s $190 million addition, Ingoglia said, pushes that total to $944 million.
“The government is expanding because they can, not because they need to,” Ingoglia said.
Methodology behind the numbers
According to Ingoglia, Broward’s general fund budget has climbed by about 47%, or $617 million, since 2019, despite the county’s population increasing by just under 57,000 residents during that period. That works out to nearly $11,000 in new spending for every new resident, Ingoglia said.
“ So what we did is we indexed for inflation in population, added a 5% buffer, added a 10% buffer, and we calculated what the budget reasonably should be,” Ingoglia said, adding that anything above that line amounts to wasteful spending.
His team adjusted for inflation and population growth when running its numbers, he said, and still found spending well above what they believe is justified for 2025.
“In layman’s terms,” Ingoglia says, “for every person moving into Broward County over the last five years, your county’s budget increased almost $11,000 for a family of four. … That math just does not math.”
The CFO said these audits will report specific examples of local government overspending and be released at a later date, though he did not disclose when.
“We have examples of wasteful spending,” Ingoglia said. “The first thing I want to say is that the government bureaucracy, itself, is the wasteful spending. We will show you examples of specific spending when the DOGE reports come out.”
Calls for tax relief
Ingoglia used the findings to push for property tax reform, pointing to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed 2026 ballot initiative that would eliminate property taxes on properties with a homestead exemption.
He argued Broward could “easily cut your millage rate by 0.54 mills” if the alleged $190 million in waste were removed.
“As your CFO, you can see that I am not standing idly by and going through the same things that we saw in the mid-2000s,” Ingoglia said. “We are going to be very aggressive in putting a property tax referendum on the ballot with, along with the legislature so you guys can vote on property tax reform next November 2026”
He also acknowledged the audit did not include the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the county’s largest expenditure with $765 million in the 2024-2025 budget.
He pointed to property taxes as a key driver of the affordable housing crisis, saying that since the COVID-19 pandemic, city and county budgets across Florida have grown by 60 to 120%, with Broward’s general fund budget climbing 47.28%, or $617 million, since 2019.
“I made a promise to the taxpayers that I was going to be a fiscal watchdog,” Ingoglia said. “The gravy train is over because the people of Florida have had enough, and so have I.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 11:27 AM.
