Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia announced that his office has identified more than $470 million in what he called “excessive, wasteful spending” in Miami-Dade County’s 2025-2026 budget.
The announcement follows last year’s review, when Ingoglia said his office found more than $302 million in excessive spending in Miami-Dade County’s General Fund budget. Ingoglia is urging county officials to remove the spending from the budget and provide tax relief to residents.
“In Fiscal Year 2025-2026 alone, Miami-Dade County excessively and wastefully spent $470 million in taxpayer funds, and over the last three years they have excessively and wastefully spent more than $800 million, showing that local governments won’t stop spending unless they are forced to,” Ingoglia said. “That is why property tax reform is necessary, and the voters have the opportunity to vote on it in November. Let’s make Florida more affordable.”
According to Ingoglia’s office, Miami-Dade County has overspent by $807.4 million over the past three years.
The Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight reported that the county’s budget has increased by more than $1.07 billion, while the population has grown by 5.72 percent, or 154,248 people. The agency said that for every family of four that moved into Miami-Dade County, the budget increased by $27,969.96.
Ingoglia’s office said Miami-Dade County could reduce its millage rate by 0.83 mills without impacting fundamental services. If the county adopted the recommendation, officials estimate homeowners could see annual savings of about $413 on a taxable home value of $500,000, $496 on a taxable home value of $600,000, and $579 on a taxable home value of $700,000.
Greg Ungru of Americans for Prosperity praised Ingoglia’s efforts, saying the review provides more transparency for Miami-Dade taxpayers.
“Thank you, CFO Ingoglia, for continuing the fight for Florida’s taxpayers and bringing transparency to the citizens of Miami-Dade County,” Ungru said. “We must ensure that our local officials remain fiscally responsible and good stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Ingoglia’s office said the CFO has now identified more than $3.1 billion in excessive or wasteful spending statewide. Ingoglia said he plans to continue reviewing local government budgets as part of his role as Florida’s chief financial officer.
