ORLANDO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state CFO Blaise Ingoglia announced Wednesday that subpoenas were being issued to Orange County officials in relation to a Florida Department of Government Efficiency’s audit into the county that was conducted in early August.

Ingoglia said that the Florida DOGE office received multiple tips that officials within the Orange County government were instructing employees to remove references to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in thousands of documents handed over to the state during the audit in August. Further, auditors reported that several employees appeared to be reading off of a prepared script in their interviews during the audit. 

Ingoglia said that of the 1.2 million emails they received in the audit, not one mentions any of five different grants the county took in related to its DEI programs, something that he said could mean that employees removed references to those funds. During the time period of documents requested by the state, the county took in 6 grants. 

In response, Ingoglia is issuing investigative subpoenas to Orange County officials to look into these allegations. 

The subpoenas are requiring interviews, and he urged county employees to be truthful when they sit down for those interviews, saying, “Don’t lie to us.” 

Ingoglia finished his statement Wednesday by saying that Orange County has “messed around, and is now going to find out.” 

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings issued a statement in response to the subpoenas, claiming that no one instructured employees to alter, change, or delete any documents. 

Please see the statement below from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings in response to this afternoon’s comments by Governor DeSantis and Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia. 

“Orange County Government fully cooperated with the Florida DOGE audit team providing all the data and documents requested. No employee was instructed to alter, change or delete any documents,” Demings said in the statement. “While our employees may have read from or referred to notes or documents being discussed by the DOGE team, employees were not scripted in their remarks.”

“The state has offered no evidence to support its allegation that we were hiding information or acting without integrity. We welcome the opportunity for full public transparency on this issue,” Demings continued.

In that audit, Florida DOGE officials requested thousands of files over the course of two days, mainly focusing on the following areas:

Procurement and contracting
Personnel compensation
Property management
Utilities
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Sustainability/green new seal
Grants provided by the county and other spending
Transportation
Homelessness

According to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, employees who met with auditors on Aug. 5-6 provided them with 183,174 files, totaling 596.8 gigabytes of memory space.

The county, by request, also provided DOGE with access to the county intranet, Demings said.

On the second day of the audit, the state DOGE team requested and was provided with additional information. Some of that information will be provided by next week, Demings said. Follow-up discussion meetings with Orange County staff covered six categories:

Discussion of procurement and contracting contracts and processes
Personnel compensation (vacancies, remote work, payroll codes, historical salary increase information and union negotiation processes)
County grants potentially related to diversity, equity and inclusion
County sustainability and resiliency plans
Public Wi-Fi
Roadway bike lanes and trail plans

Ingoglia said a report may be issued within 60 days of the audit’s completion.

The county and the mayor haven’t responded to this development yet.