Blaise Ingoglia targets Citrus County for ‘wasteful’ spending

Four Citrus County Commissioners sat in a room and learned they’re taxing citizens at an alarming rate.

That critique didn’t come from Citrus County taxpayers, who tend to show up sparingly at county budget meetings. And it didn’t come from the community’s opinion writers, business organizations or anti-government zealots.

Instead, it was Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who formerly represented Citrus County in the Senate, setting the scene before a handful of county politicians and leading Republicans at the Realtors Association of Citrus County in Lecanto.

Ingoglia said Citrus County spent $39 million more this year than it should. His estimates are based on a formula of taking the 2019-20 general fund budget, indexing it with population and inflation, and arriving at a budget number where the county should be today.

Ingoglia, who is presenting similar findings to counties and cities across Florida, said Citrus County’s population has increased by 10%, about 15,000 residents, since 2019. In that same time, he said, the general fund budget jumped by $77 million. Ingoglia said the budget increase, based on population and inflation, should have been half that.

“That’s an amazing amount of government growth in six years,” he said. “That’s the amount we think Citrus County has wastefully spent.”

He said the county’s general fund workforce grew by 278 new employees, with 64 being first responders.

Ingoglia said local governments are defensive about their budgets, so he purposely keeps officials in the dark about his findings until they’re announced.

“We show up, we hold a press conference, and reveal the numbers at the press conference,” he said.

And there is no collaboration between his Office and local governments to address the findings.

“It’s not my job to cut their budget. It’s up to them to decide where they need to cut.”

Citrus County Commissioners on hand had varied reactions.

Chair Diana Finegan said she had repeatedly brought up that the county’s spending is exceeding what citizens can afford.

“I wasn’t surprised by his numbers,” she said.

Commissioner Janet Barek said the county should question spending decisions.

“We have to say, ‘cut this, cut this, cut this,’” she said. “No more consultants. We have our own people who can do that work.”

Commissioner Jeff Kinnard said he was surprised to learn of the number of new hires.

“The pressure is to go back to administration to look for efficiencies,” he said.

Commissioner Rebecca Bays said the county needs to diversify its tax structure, but targeting Ingoglia’s number as a reduction is unrealistic.

“There’s always room to cut, but $35 million? How in the world do you find $35 million to cut?” she said.

Ingoglia called on decision-makers to be vigilant.

“If local officials are not questioning spending … they’re not doing their job.”