HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFTS) — Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Hillsborough County leaders both say they value fiscal responsibility. But as a state audit of county spending begins, they’re split over whether Hillsborough has much waste to cut.
On Monday, Ingoglia launched the Florida DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) review into Hillsborough County outside County government offices, calling it part of a statewide effort to uncover “waste, fraud, and abuse” and bring down property taxes.
Watch report from Jada Williams
“This is all as a precursor and a pretext to reducing property taxes,” Ingoglia said. “Here in the state of Florida, property taxes have skyrocketed over the past five years… between 60 to 120%.”
County Commissioner Harry Cohen doesn’t dispute that property taxes have gone up for many residents, but says Hillsborough’s track record tells a different story.
“In 23 of the last 30 years, Hillsborough County lowered the millage rate, not raised it,” Cohen said. “It is true that because there’s been a huge growth in population, about 11.4% over the past decade. There are increased property tax receipts. But 83% of that increase has been spent on public safety.”
That 83% figure was also cited in an Aug. 8 letter County Administrator Bonnie Wise sent to Ingoglia’s team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In it, Wise welcomed the state review, writing that Hillsborough “is strongly committed to fiscal responsibility and efficiency while providing for the needs of our residents.”
The letter highlighted the county’s rare AAA credit rating from all three major agencies, a status held by fewer than 2% of U.S. counties, and its history of lowering the millage rate in most of the past three decades. Wise wrote that the county’s Fiscal Year 2025 General Fund budget is $970 million higher than in 2019, but 73% of that increase is for public safety, disaster preparedness, transportation, maintenance and reserves.
Ingoglia, however, said his office has already found “egregious examples” of questionable spending in other counties and will look for similar patterns in Hillsborough. He pointed to signs like repeated contracts just under the threshold requiring competitive bidding.
Read full letter:
DOGE Letter to Hillsborough County by ABC Action News
Cohen said the remaining 17% of Hillsborough’s budget funds services residents rely on, from parks and facilities maintenance to code enforcement and affordable housing.
“You have things like actual facilities management, like the courthouse and the different government buildings the county is responsible for,” he said. “Code enforcement, affordable housing. There’s a lot of other components that go into the running of the municipal government.”
Both men say public safety should be protected. Ingoglia said that if cuts come, they should never touch police or fire services.
“The first role of government is to protect its citizens,” Ingoglia said. “I don’t want to hear from local governments saying they’re going to cut any fire and any police.”
Cohen said Hillsborough already follows that principle.
“Eighty-three percent of our spending goes towards public safety: police, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, and also disaster preparedness and transportation infrastructure,” Cohen said.
Wise’s letter echoed that, noting that the county provides these municipal-type services to unincorporated areas at a millage rate significantly lower than those in Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace.
Cohen said commissioners have open opportunities to cut waste if they see it.
“Any commissioner who feels that there’s wasteful spending has the opportunity — I would say even the obligation — to bring the item in front of the board,” Cohen said. “The majority is what rules. So, any commissioner can do that at any time.”
Ingoglia emphasized that counties face penalties of $1,000 per day per item if they fail to turn over requested records, but they are under no obligation to adopt his recommended cuts.
“That’s going to be up to the taxpayer and the voters to hold local officials accountable and vote for a constitutional amendment,” Ingoglia said.
The amendment, which is expected to land on the Nov. 26 ballot, could eliminate property taxes for homesteaded properties. Cohen cautions that the state will then need to find replacement funding for schools, public safety and infrastructure.
“Schools are funded from property taxes,” Cohen said. “Much of our public safety budgets are directly funded by property taxes… If those dollars go away, those things are going to have to be funded somewhere.”
Despite their differences, both Ingoglia and county officials say they welcome transparency. Wise told the DOGE team the county “works hard to be an open and transparent local government” and has even created a citizen-led DOGE Liaison Committee to engage with the state.
The Hillsborough review is the latest step in a series of audits Ingoglia launched shortly after becoming CFO.
“We are finding pretty egregious examples of waste, fraud and abuse,” he said. “Obviously, today is the first day for Hillsborough County. I brief the teams before they start going and digging in and asking these questions, because some things that we find from other counties, we then let the teams know going forward to look for it in other counties also.”
He also warned that his office has heard of local governments trying to hide certain spending.
“They are changing keywords on contracts from diversity, equity or inclusion to something else,” Ingoglia said. “So this way, when you do a search, it makes it harder to find it. Let me just tell everyone: we are going to find it. Do not change anything.”
Ingoglia said some counties have required multiple requests for records. He would not give specific details for Hillsborough, but said his office is tracking those cases closely.
Asked for examples of wasteful spending found so far, Ingoglia declined to say.
“If people have seen that we’ve locked in and honed in on one thing, then everyone else who’s on the list for the audits and the reviews will then try to change things and make it harder for us to find over there,” he said.
Ingoglia says his audits will be long-term.
“Cities and counties should not make the mistake to think this is a short-term thing,” he said. “This is a long-term thing.”
Part of the plan includes rebranding the state’s “Get Lean” website into an anonymous tip line for local government employees and citizens to report questionable spending.
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