The City of Ormond Beach will begin the process of “DOGE-ing” itself.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the Ormond Beach City Commission held a joint workshop with the city’s Budget Advisory Board to discuss the state’s Department of Government Efficiency framework to self-audit for efficiency. City staff walked the officials through where they believed they may find cost savings, such as the travel policy for staff and commissioners, memberships to various organizations, take-home vehicles, its bid platform and contract management. Based on previous discussions, the city will be focusing on reducing spending and streamlining operations.

The self-DOGE process was kickstarted by City Commissioner Travis Sargent, who presented the state’s guidelines to the commission during the recent budget discussions. 

“When hear during budget season, ‘Our millage rate is the lowest in the county. Let’s get to rollback,'” Sargent said. “You hear those key catchphrases and I don’t think we should limit ourselves to going flat or trying to achieve rollback. I think we need to work toward streamlining efficiencies.”

On Feb. 24, the governor issued an executive order establishing a DOGE Team responsible for identifying and reporting “unnecessary spending” within county and municipal governments. City Finance Director Kelly McGuire said the city of Ormond Beach received a notice about the state’s DOGE Team in March; the state also asked the city confirm it was not in “financial distress.”

“They asked that of all communities, just to be clear about that,” McGuire said. “And of course, our answer was no, it was not.”

Then in July, the state asked all local governments to provide financial information in a new, detailed format, and released the self-DOGE framework. 

The city is aiming to have a report to the City Commission in February 2026, just before beginning budget discussions.

McGuire also addressed previous claims that the city’s budget has increased by 90% in the last three years; In 2021, the city’s budget was $96 million. In 2024, it was $120 million.

“What you need to understand — and it’s really important as we go through this DOGE process and we go through the budget process — is that the budget is a plan, and that plan has to meet certain requirements,” she said.

It has to meet state, federal and local requirements, as well as requirements of the government accounting standards, McGuire said.

“Not surprisingly, those requirements are not always the same,” she said.

The requirements may result in “budget duplications.” These can be fund transfers or capital projects, McGuire explained.

“We need to understand what we’re talking about and I think that was part of the miscommunication — or misinformation, whichever way you want to label it — that occurred last year,” she said. “There needs to be an understanding that there are things that show up in this budget, number one that are real dollars, i.e. the transfers, and number two that are required to show up in the budget until the project is completed. That is not new money.”

Sargent said local governments are responsible for essential services like public safety, police and fire, infrastructure, water and public amenities. Some use of taxpayer funds, however, should be reexamined — like State of the City, the commissioner said.

” We’re spending taxpayer money to join with the chamber for an event that costs people to attend,” Sargent said. “And I think it’s a great event, don’t get me wrong. I think there needs to be better fundraising and I don’t think taxpayers should continue to pay that any further.”

The city should send a letter, Sargent added, to other entities receiving similar funds to let them know they may not be available next year. 

Mayor Jason Leslie brought up the possibility of leasing vehicles, an idea he previously floated during the recent budget season. Staff said they would reach out to other municipalities to see if leasing vehicles was doable for Ormond Beach. 

At the workshop, commissioners also directed staff to prepare a workshop to discuss adding a new technology advisory board, in which members will look at ways Artificial Intelligence can be implemented in the city to maximize efficiency.

“There’s a lot of areas that I think we can enhance with AI and different technology that we need to embrace,” Sargent said.