Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia Critiques Orange County’s Tax Rates

Blaise Ingoglia, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), voiced his criticism about the level of taxation in Orange County, arguing that its residents are bearing the brunt of an overly extensive tax burden. He estimates that this burden is exerting pressure of about $148 per resident. Ingoglia also suggested that with sly financial handling, county executives could shed nearly $200 million of what he terms ‘unnecessary expenses’ from their annual budget.

In rebuttal to the CFO’s claims, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings defended the financial management of the county. In a passionate exchange, the mayor implied that Ingoglia should focus more on handling matters limited to his own jurisdiction before meddling with the state of affairs in Orange County. This spat between Ingoglia and the Orange County administration is viewed as a continuation of an ongoing disagreement between the Republicans and local government there.

Potentially, this disagreement has personal implications for Demings, who is speculated to be a contender in the Democratic race for governorship. Accompanying his criticism, Ingoglia cautioned that potential future state funding could be at risk for Orange County. He asserted that the elected officials’ mishandling of the budget could cost them their seats in the upcoming elections.

An event at a local Orlando business saw Ingoglia declare that the current Mayor, who has hinted at his gubernatorial ambitions, has a style of spending that should exclude him from governorship consideration. As his term as mayor is coming to a close next year, with no opportunity for re-election, Demings has been reported as potentially launching a bid for the gubernatorial race in 2026.

Ingoglia recently drew attention by issuing investigative subpoenas directed at 16 personnel within the county, as a part of a Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) audit that he manages. He suggested that county executives might have intentionally interfered with records to obstruct the state’s examination of exorbitantly high spending. He has launched a similar offensive against Orange County before, most notably in a press conference held in late August.

Ahead of the county’s final budget hearing which is to decide upon an $8.2 billion expenditure plan—maintaining the property tax rate at $4.43 per $1,000, ranked 11th lowest among Florida’s counties—Ingoglia arrived for a visit. When questioned about specific instances of frivolous spending that he observed, he declined to provide details, instead deferring to the forthcoming DOGE audit report.

Lending some insight into his process, Ingoglia explained his determination of roughly $190,643,653 in ‘extravagant and unnecessary’ spending. By referring to the county’s budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020 and adjusting it for annual inflation and population growth, he arrived at this figure. He added buffers of 5% and 10% respectively to account for the operational inefficiencies inherent to government functions as compared to the private sector.

After factoring in all the influences—population growth, inflation, costs associated with law enforcement recruitment, salary increments for police and firefighters, and an addition for governmental efficiency—Ingoglia maintained that Orange County’s budget should ideally be $200 million below its present value. This assertion sharply contrasts Mayor Demings’ sentiments, who rebuffed the state’s criticism by defending the wage increase for county employees of 4% annually over the past four years.

Demings fiercely argued that county and state employees are under-compensated, calling for salary raises. Debating the subject at a news conference, he stated, ‘We’re not running away from what we pay our staff here in Orange County, I’m going to suggest the state of Florida should pay its employees better.’

Mayor Demings also challenged Ingoglia’s estimation of the county’s population growth. He stated that over the past four years, an extra 125,000 people became residents of Orange County. Furthermore, the county also provides services to approximately 75 million visitors each year, which is akin to serving over 206,000 people daily. Illustrating his argument, Demings said, ‘There is no other local government in Florida with that kind of impact in services.’

In the arena of finances, public safety is a cost-heavy component for Orange County, with $1.2 billion being allocated for departments such as the sheriff’s office, the fire department, and the jail. Yearly, these budgets grow by approximately 10% which has resulted in a 445 million dollar escalation since 2022. The spiralling costs of public safety are a shared concern for governments around the region.

For comparison, officials in the Republican-led Seminole County are considering a boost to their property tax rate by 10% to cater for the increasing demands of the sheriff’s office. Interestingly, Ingoglia’s auditing office has not approached Seminole County regarding these decisions.

As per a review conducted by the Florida Department of Revenue prompted by Ingoglia, it was concluded that each resident of Orange County was being overtaxed by $148. A proposed solution was to lower the county’s property tax rate significantly leading to annual savings of around $257 for a homeowner with a property valued at $300,000.

Recent years have seen a notable increase in Orange County’s general fund—which is used to finance key services such as police, fire protection, parks, libraries—with an addition of more than $500 million since 2019-2020. Concluding his remarks, Ingoglia indicated this increase to be evidence of more than justifiable infrastructural improvements, likening it to wasteful expenditure given the population growth of only 79,000 over the same period of time.