Gov. Ron DeSantis is urging counties in Florida to follow Bay County’s lead and “step up and ask” for audits from the state-level DOGE his administration established.
Noting that his administration is “working with the Florida Legislature to get more prescriptive authority to be able to go in and conduct audits of these local governments so that taxpayers get the full picture of what’s going on,” he credits “counties that are willing to step up and ask for these audits” with “really leading by example.”
DeSantis has often said Florida “was DOGE before DOGE was cool.” Yet in the wake of the Elon Musk led Department of Governmental Efficiency taking root, the Governor rolled out a state-level task force via Executive Order 25-44 to “DOGE at the local level,” taking a look at “publicly available” budget records and auditing.
As he has previously, DeSantis painted a picture of local budgets larded by hikes in property taxes.
“We’ve seen property tax assessments go up across Florida at the local level,” he said. “Taxpayers are pinched, they’re paying more than they ever have. Even though we have homestead exemption, it hasn’t been enough to fully protect taxpayers. Shouldn’t you know how this money is being spent, especially in those counties that have seen dramatic increases in their state budgets?”
Higher taxes have “pinched” senior citizens whose home value may have appreciated over the years, he said.
“Now they’re being told it’s worth so much more and they have to pony up more and more money. It’s almost like they have to pay rent to the government just to be able to enjoy their property. and that’s wrong. and we need to do something about it.”
For now, the Governor wants cities and counties to work with his group on a “voluntary” basis.
“We really hope to be able to deliver some serious, serious audits working with the Florida legislature of what’s going on in these local governments. I thank Bay County for what they did and I know there’s going to be other counties that are going to step up to the plate,” DeSantis said.
Post Views: 0
