Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced that his office has identified more than $275 million in what he described as “excessive, wasteful spending” in the City of Jacksonville’s 2025-2026 budget.
According to Ingoglia, Jacksonville’s General Fund budget has increased by 61% since 2019. Last year, he identified more than $199 million in the city’s 2024-2025 budget as wasteful spending.
Ingoglia said the findings are part of his ongoing effort to provide transparency to local taxpayers and allow residents to hold city officials accountable for spending decisions.
“Once again, the City of Jacksonville has proven that they do not care about taxpayers. They only care about their large, bloated, taxpayer-crushing budgets,” Ingoglia said. “Since Mayor Deegan took office, she has continued to recklessly and irresponsibly spend taxpayer dollars. Property tax reform is not only doable, it is necessary, and Floridians will be able to choose to keep more of their hard-earned money out of the hands of government come November.”
The Florida Agency of Fiscal Oversight, known as FAFO, reported that Jacksonville has spent $623.4 million above its benchmark over the past six years. The agency’s review found that the city’s General Fund budget increased by more than $840.1 million between fiscal years 2019-2020 and 2025-2026.
During that same period, Jacksonville’s population increased by 10.49%, or 99,588 people. According to Ingoglia’s office, that means for every family of four that moved to the city, the budget increased by $33,743.36.
Greg Ungru of Americans for Prosperity praised the review, saying FAFO’s methodology helps put local government spending under closer scrutiny.
“The FAFO methodology has highlighted fiscal responsibility by making sure the local government works for the constituents they serve, not the other way around,” Ungru said. “Today, the numbers have shown that Jacksonville has continued to take advantage of the taxpayers. I want to thank CFO Ingoglia for his continued oversight to mitigate overspending in local government’s budgets.”
Ingoglia’s office also said Jacksonville could reduce its millage rate by 1.49 mills without affecting essential city services. According to the CFO, that reduction could save homeowners hundreds of dollars a year.
A homeowner with a taxable home value of $300,000 would save $447 annually. A taxable home value of $400,000 would save $595, while a taxable home value of $500,000 would save $744 per year.
Ingoglia said his office has now identified more than $2.7 billion in excessive and wasteful spending across Florida. He said he plans to continue reviewing local government budgets throughout the state as part of his role as chief financial officer
