BRADENTON — Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia held a press conference at Pier 22 on Thursday, delivering the long-awaited results of his Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight audit of the county budget. The results, according to Ingoglia, were less than stellar.
"We've crunched the numbers," said Ingoglia. "Once we took the budget, brought it forward, indexed for inflation and population to find out what Manatee County's general fund budget should be reasonably at this time, they blew past that number by $112 million."
Since 2019, the county's general fund budget had risen $269 million, a 69% increase in five years, which Ingoglia said was the largest his team had seen in its audits. Ingoglia acknowledged that the county had added over 61,000 residents but said that the $4,369 per person (or $17,479 for a family of four) was far more than his team allowed for.
"When population increases, the cost per person should be going down, not up," said Ingoglia, referencing metrics in private sector businesses.
Ingoglia also stated that the 472 employees added to the county's ranks over that time far exceed the additional services required for the 61,000 additional residents.
"What it means is that your millage rate could have been reduced by .019 mils and in our estimation still deliver the essential services and not miss a beat," said the CFO. "They took the extra money and they spent it. They should have been giving it back to you.
Ingoglia said that would have amounted to a $436 tax break on a home valued at $400,000.
“This is not meant to be an attack,” said Ingoglia. “Is it a criticism? Yes, but it’s a wake-up call to local governments, whether it’s a blue city, blue county, or red city, red county. Government has sort of gotten out of whack.”
Ingoglia explained that the FAFO audit is separate from the DOGE audit. FAFO focuses on the amount of overspending, while the DOGE audit will examine individual line item expenditures that can account for the overspending.
When asked what would happen next, Ingoglia said it would be up to voters, referencing not only local elections but also a proposed constitutional amendment referendum on property tax reform that is expected to appear on the 2026 ballot. He also suggested that poor audits could impact the state legislature when those municipalities request state funding for projects in their communities.
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Bill
This county has a bloated employment looking for ways to spend the taxpayer’s money on useless things like forty million to four lane 59th St that chokes back down to two lanes. Spending over a million for a separate sheriff repair center in Palmetto instead combining with the county garage to save duplicate services. Building only a two lane Fort Hammer bridge that was overloaded the day it opened and now spending millions to widen it. Spending millions on big street lighting every two hundred feet on residential streets. Not making developers pay the true impact cost .
Thursday, October 16 Report this
pattybeenutty
The 59th St. expansion is not going through, Bill, and we so need the lights on our streets. I suppose you have never driven through the impoverished areas of our county, where complete darkness poses a danger to those walking home from a friend's house or to school at 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. We do not all have cars, so we have to walk or ride a bike. Lighting is necessary for our kids on those dark mornings as they walk to school.
Friday, October 17 Report this
sandy
Two articles in other news sources reference that the millage rate could be reduced by 1.09, not .019, and still provide essential services needed. That being said, I am more interested in the line item expenditures to see the actual numbers where the county is overspending than just an overall percentage and amount. One thing is staffing. Seems to me in recent years that got more top heavy.
Friday, October 17 Report this
David Daniels
Since the actual Manatee County net budget has increased by $636.7 million, not $269 million, I assume that Mr Ignolia, when he says "General Fund", is excluding the Sheriff and other Constitutional offices.That is clue number one that this is just a political dog and pony show. Clue number 2 is that he fails to identify what is wasteful. Ignolia makes a big deal out of an increase of 69% in the County general fund since 2019. If the Governor was really concerned about excessive spending, he would look at County Sheriff's budgets across the state. In Manatee, since 2019, the Sheriff's budget has increased by $148 million or 117%, way more than double. (2019=$126.7million, 2026=274.7million). With that kind of law enforcement budget, you'd think Manatee was the command headquarters for every ANTIFA-Islamic-Narco-illegal alien- domestic yada yada yada terrorist organization that the Governor and this administration are trying to make us all afraid of.
Friday, October 17 Report this
jimandlope
As an aside what kind of “audit” mentions blue counties and cities and red counties and cities? That single statement would render an audit biased and not to be believed.
On the other hand yes let’s look at the Sheriffs budget we are not under attack by criminal behavior.
Friday, October 17 Report this
Kelly
Without citing specific examples, Ingoglia is just spouting a lot of BS. His interests are conflicted with pushing his unpopular agenda of having the State of Florida collect and spend all of the taxes. That means more power to the state and zero for Home Rule. I call BS. Ingoglia needs to audit the State's wasteful spending by flying Texas migrants to Martha's Vineyard and funding the failed Everglades migrant prison facility. Manatee County is struggling to recover from years of unbridled developers' abuse of the county land and neglect of infrastructure. The State of Florida is responsible for allowing the developers' abuses. I presently have no trust or faith in the State to spend my tax dollars wisely- keep it local. With recent Federal Government programs being defunded, (think FEMA, farmer supports, land environmental protections, clean water, etc) we need to pull our County up by our own bootstraps. Yes, we still have free and fair elections (I think). Last year we cleaned-out some of the corrupt and wasteful commissioners. Now, we need to remove the some of the corrupt and wasteful County administration.
Friday, October 17 Report this
rjckeuka4
It all boils down to TRUST, doesn't it? Can we trust Ignolia...probably not! Can we trust DeSanctimonious... absolutely not! Perhaps there's something to learn in this review, but control has got to remail local...not state! It's the pot calling the kettle black! The State has got to clean up it's own yard!
Friday, October 17 Report this
Bill
Yes, our sheriff sure got a nice big pay increase while the backbone of the department got a small increase and a cut on any overtime.
Friday, October 17 Report this
pf3503
I'm glad to see an audit that is will to report on government bloat.
I have to say though, how many ways is there to correctly spell Ingoglia? Don't you have a spell checker? This is a newspaper for heavens sake, you should be more careful about editing!
"We've crunched the numbers," said Ingolia.
“This is not meant to be an attack,” said Ignolia.
Friday, October 17 Report this
pf3503
Update on my post, since this platform does not allow for an edit.
"I'm glad to see an audit that is will to report on government bloat."
Correction: I'm glad to see an audit that is willing to report on government bloat.
Is my face red!
Friday, October 17 Report this