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Gov. Ron DeSantis Cracks Down on City and County Waste and Inefficiency
American Thinker ^ | 19 Aug, 2025 | Susan Quinn

Posted on 08/19/2025 4:11:44 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Other governors, notably those in Republican-run states, are making noises about doing the same.

Ron DeSantis had no sooner installed a new CFO, Blaise Ingolia, into the Florida state government than he decided to crack down on the management of those municipalities and counties. Ingolia will be instituting a process similar to the federal Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Unofficially, Ingolia is calling it “FAFO,” or the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight. (It’s unclear whether that name will be permanent.)

The audit has already begun. The governor sent letters to Gainesville and Broward County requesting financial and DEI information and access to offices, data, and personnel:

“There is a new era of accountability in the state of Florida when it comes to fiscal spending,” CFO Ingoglia said.

“We have the authority. This is no longer optional. We don’t have to ask mother, may I? We can just simply say you must comply under the law,” DeSantis said.

The reviews will include onsite inspections, data system pull, and possibly daily fines for those cities and counties that refuse to comply.

“We need to start asking local government, where are you spending this money? And then let the people know what they’re spending the money on,” Ingoglia said. “Then let the people make the decision that this is worthwhile.”

The mayor of Gainesville, Harvey Ward, quickly promised full cooperation in this effort:

“Yesterday evening, I received a request from Florida DOGE. The city of Gainesville has been and remains an open book, and as mayor, I stand by the efficiency and resiliency of our city government. Over the past two years our city commission has passed a historic debt reduction plan and eliminated 161.5 staff positions. We did this while protecting public safety, expanding our financial reserves

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: leftism

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1 posted on 08/19/2025 4:11:44 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

This seems like a good thing. I wonder what they would find in one of the big blue cities.


2 posted on 08/19/2025 4:11:56 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

GOOD!
Now include school districts!!


3 posted on 08/19/2025 4:25:03 AM PDT by Donbue
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To: Donbue

What a pile of crap. The governor nickels and dimes the lowest level state employees of with regard to mileage reports. It takes hours to double check the report and you are lucky if the report is “correct” by their strange standards. The State needs to clean its own house first. They buy things the employees do not need. What they really need to do the job more efficiently they do not buy. And at the end of the fiscal year they go on a spending spree, so their budget will not be reduced the next year.


4 posted on 08/19/2025 4:48:51 AM PDT by sam_adams_mom
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To: sam_adams_mom

The entire government does the spending spree in September. If they don’t the budget is cut for the next year. The system is dumb.


5 posted on 08/19/2025 4:54:18 AM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: MtnClimber

HOORAY DeSantis! HOORAY D.O.G.E.!


6 posted on 08/19/2025 5:08:24 AM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: napscoordinator

That’s been the military way for decades. On the 28th of every month, if there was fuel left in the tanks, we always put 6 C130’s in the air for “training”.


7 posted on 08/19/2025 5:09:26 AM PDT by Fireone (1.Avoid crowds 2.Head on a swivel 3.Be prepared to protect & defend those around you 4.Avoid crowds)
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To: MtnClimber

With the influx of millions of new residents to Florida, the local governments have had a huge increase in property tax revenue.

When agricultural land is converted to housing land, property tax revenue increases many fold.

Florida politicians are not any different than politicians anywhere else. Give them a bunch a money and they will find ways to spend it on foolish projects.


8 posted on 08/19/2025 5:15:20 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: MtnClimber

>>Over the past two years our city commission has passed a historic debt reduction plan and eliminated 161.5 staff positions.

That’s mind boggling. They had a TON of make work jobs, clearly. My old city was around 1/3rd the population and I don’t think we had 160 employees total. Now fire was with the county, but still. WOW!


9 posted on 08/19/2025 5:31:27 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: MtnClimber

A huge waste of money is in “Roundabouts”, that’s traffic circles. In the 50s and 60s states and cities spent hundreds of millions of dollars to eliminate them because they were the cause of a large number of fatal traffic accidents. But, when politicians go on vacation they bring back “cutsy” ideas about where to spend taxpayer’s money.


10 posted on 08/19/2025 5:32:26 AM PDT by Highest Authority (DemonRats are pure EVIL)
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To: Fireone

You are so right. Absolutely batsh!t.


11 posted on 08/19/2025 5:48:50 AM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: sam_adams_mom

I had a job that included auditing Expense reports before being passed for payment.

ONE report didn’t seem right.

Boss said “CHASE IT”.

UNCOVERED a long time embezzler. HE was fired.


12 posted on 08/19/2025 7:52:19 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
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