Palm Beach County’s date with DOGE is set.

In two weeks, a team from the government efficiency office created by Gov. Ron DeSantis will arrive in county offices to begin combing through financial records, regulations and policies to ferret out waste, according to a letter County Mayor Maria Marino received Thursday.

In the letter announcing their visit on Aug. 18 and 19, the team targeted areas that have been hot button topics for DeSantis and President Donald Trump.

Programs that involve climate change, diversity, equity and inclusion and homeless assistance will be inspected closely, according to the letter signed by the state’s CFO Blaise Ingoglia; Eric Soskin, the state’s DOGE czar; and Leda Kelly, head of the governor’s Office of Policy and Budget.

The three provided the county with a nine-page list of documents that it wants county officials to assemble for the visit. And it requests access to county “data systems.”

Failure to provide any of the dozens of requested documents could result in $1,000-a-day fines.

‘Are we going to be fired?’

Incoming County Administrator Joe Abruzzo, who will officially begin work on the team’s second day, said the county will be prepared to answer the team’s questions. He said he isn’t worried.

“It’s not always a negative,” Abruzzo said, noting that he asked the state to audit the Clerk and Comptroller’s Office after he was elected to lead it in 2020. “If they can find areas where we can tighten up our processes, that would be a good thing.”

But, he acknowledged, some county workers are worried.

For instance, the team specifically asked for information about the county’s Youth Services Department. The office, created in 2015 to address gaps in services to children and teens, is unique.

“Are we going to be fired?” Abruzzo said one worker asked when he visited the department recently as part of a tour of county agencies he is taking to prepare to take the reins of county government.

When Elon Musk’s federal DOGE team descended on federal agencies, many federal workers lost their jobs.

Mounts Botanical Garden on the DOGE list

The team also asked for information about county efforts to promote diversity and inclusion at Mounts Botanical Garden, which uses a county building, is run by the county but is heavily supported by a nonprofit.

The request, like others, was detailed: “Since January 1, 2023, all actions taken in support of the policy for Diversity and Inclusion at Mounts Botanical Garden (MGB), including all policies, procedures, decision tools and rubrics, and records of decisions related to staffing, programming, outreach, and communications and all actions taken by other county departments to promote or support MBG.”

The team also wants extensive information about the county’s installation of traffic calming devices and plans for additional ones.

Traffic calming, unlike other issues on the team’s agenda, hasn’t generated recent controversy.

Looking at government salaries, sales of land

In contrast, DeSantis signed a law that bans the use of “climate change,” championed the “Stop Woke Act” to limit the way race, gender and ethnicity can be addressed in schools and workplaces and pushed for a measure that forced municipalities to remove the homeless from public streets.

Auditors are also seeking information about salaries for top administrators, its contracting process and its sale of government property.

The team’s request for information has grown since it began work in Broward in mid-July, Abruzzo said. Since then, it has visited Orange, Manatee, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and Gainesville and Jacksonville.

Abruzzo, a former Democratic state legislator, said the expansion doesn’t surprise him.

“As they move through county by county, they gather more information as they learn about the processes and their questions are only going to grow,” he said.

Budget growth outpaces population growth

But Florida DOGE’s reasons for visiting the counties and cities haven’t changed.

Like it did in Broward and other counties, DOGE is accusing Palm Beach County of wasting taxpayer money.

In the letter to Marino, the team said that the county’s property tax collections have increased nearly $480 million, or 50%, since 2020 — an increase that they suggested far outpaces its population gains.

“While the county’s estimated population has grown during that time, so has the number of county employees per capita,” they wrote.

According to county budget documents, the county has 4.72 employees for every 1,000 residents, up slightly from 4.58 in 2020.

According to information the county provided the DOGE team, its total budget has increased 35.6% since 2021 to $8.8 billion while its population has increased 2.9%.

The total budget includes money the county receives from state and federal grants, gasoline and sales taxes, water and sewer fees and other sources. Its income from countywide property taxes has increased 29% in the past four years.

Abruzzo said county staff members have been preparing for weeks for the inevitable visit.

“I know our staff will be able to handle the requests and provide any information they want,” he said. “They are consummate professionals.”

This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.