{"id":853391,"date":"2026-06-08T19:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/853391\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:06:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:06:18","slug":"florida-cfo-again-targets-jacksonville-spending-mayor-deegans-office-calls-visit-hyper-partisan-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/853391\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida CFO again targets Jacksonville spending; Mayor Deegan\u2019s Office calls visit \u2018hyper-partisan exercise\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia took aim at Jacksonville city government Monday, claiming the city wasted $275.7 million in taxpayer money in the 2025-26 budget \u2014 a sharp jump from the $199 million in excessive spending he claimed the previous year.<\/p>\n

Ingoglia made the announcement at a news conference in Jacksonville Beach, flanked by state lawmakers and advocates from Americans for Prosperity.<\/p>\n

The CFO has been conducting a statewide spending accountability tour, publicly calling out both Republican- and Democrat-led governments for what he describes as wasteful and excessive spending.<\/p>\n

Ingoglia said his office uses a formula it calls the FAFO methodology \u2014 base budget plus inflation plus population growth \u2014 to determine what a government\u2019s budget should reasonably be, then compares that figure to actual spending.<\/p>\n

For Jacksonville, the formula applied 25.5% cumulative inflation and 10.49% population growth from the 2019-20 budget year through the current 2025-26 budget. Ingoglia said his office also added a 5% buffer \u2014 roughly $69 million \u2014 for governments with budgets exceeding $2 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did we index for inflation and population in Jacksonville\u2019s budget, we actually added a $69 million buffer on top of it,\u201d Ingoglia said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with those adjustments, Ingoglia said Jacksonville\u2019s budget grew 61% beyond what his formula allows \u2014 producing the $275.7 million excessive spending figure for 2025-26 alone.<\/p>\n

Looking back across six budget years, Ingoglia said the cumulative total of excessive spending in Jacksonville reaches $623 million \u2014 and that virtually all of it occurred in the last three years.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of the excessive and wasteful spending that has happened in the city of Jacksonville has happened over the last three years,\u201d Ingoglia said, making a reference to Mayor Donna Deegan\u2019s administration. \u201cI don\u2019t think that is a coincidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s Office sent News4JAX the following statement in response to Ingoglia\u2019s claims:<\/p>\n

Once again, the state CFO has swooped into town without any specifics and more numbers pulled out of thin air. It\u2019s another hyper-partisan exercise designed to bully cities and lay the groundwork for passage of a property tax cost shift that will hurt the vast majority of people.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville is already a low tax city with a lean and efficient budget that delivers the greatest return for our citizens. People want parks, libraries, pools, roads, and lower housing and healthcare costs. That\u2019s not waste. That\u2019s providing a good quality of life for a world class city. And that\u2019s what we\u2019ve been focused on since day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mayor\u2019s Office also pointed out that while the CFO claimed the wasteful spending was only in the last three years during Monday\u2019s news conference, he said otherwise in a September 2025 press conference<\/a> in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spending is not just a Democrat problem. This is a Democrat and a Republican problem,\u201d Ingoglia said back then.<\/p>\n

Statewide numbers<\/b><\/p>\n

Jacksonville is not alone on Ingoglia\u2019s list. His office has now reviewed more than a dozen jurisdictions across Florida, exposing what he says is more than $2.5 billion<\/b> in total excessive spending statewide. Among the figures he cited:<\/p>\n