MIAMI (WSVN) – Florida’s chief financial officer accused the City of Miami of wasteful spending following another budget review by the state’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“If this was a business, the City of Miami would go bankrupt,” said Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia. “There’s no two ways to say it. It would.”
Ingoglia took aim at the city’s general fund, saying it’s ballooned past where it should be, even taking population growth and inflation rate into account.
“This is, in my opinion, some fiscal irresponsibility,” said Ingoglia.
Ingoglia blamed city leaders, saying they allowed the city’s budget to skyrocket.
“Figuring out what the budget in the City of Miami should have reasonably been, the City of Miami blew past that number by $94 million,” said Ingoglia.
The money for the city’s budget is funded by property taxes.
Ingoglia says his mission is to identify wasteful spending in local municipalities across Florida in an effort to bring property tax reform and possibly eliminate property taxes altogether.
The City of Miami is the latest on Ingoglia’s list.
Ingoglia says since 2019, the City of Miami’s budget has increased by more than $358 million.
“That is a 44% increase in their budget in just five years,” said Ingoglia.
Ingoglia says Florida’s DOGE has performed the same audit across seven local governments, including a September review of Broward County’s budget.
In total, he claims he’s found more than $1.1 billion in wasteful spending this year alone.
“The bottom line is government, and I think we have proven here today, that government is taking money, your money, and squandering it,” said Ingoglia. “They’re taxing you guys and asking for more, more and more.”
After wrapping up a commission meeting Thursday evening, the City of Miami Commission released a statement responding to Ingoglia’s budget analysis.
It reads:
The CFO’s spending analysis is incomplete. It’s important to note the shortsightedness of drawing broad conclusions from just a few data points without considering external factors. Beyond inflation and population growth within the city boundary, the City of Miami provides services to thousands of individuals who work in the city but reside elsewhere within Miami-Dade or other surrounding areas of South Florida. As Miami-Dade County’s urban core, the City of Miami serves as the government seat for the majority of city, county, state, and federal agencies. The urban core also houses most of our major corporations and attracts a significant number of visitors each year. As the primary provider of essential services to those buildings and complex infrastructure, the City maintains primary responsibility for public safety and infrastructure management and operations. The City’s financial and operational stability remains vital to ensuring continued service delivery and sustaining economic vitality for residents, visitors, and the community at large. A formula applied to a suburban or rural city would never reasonably apply to a city that inherently is as complex and unique as the City of Miami.
Ingoglia has recommended the city to take steps that won’t take away services, but still provide some property tax relief.
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