On October 1st, Governor Ron DeSantis held a press event at the Jacksonville International Airport. Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia joined him to promote the elimination of property taxes on homestead properties and tout the ongoing audits from the Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
DeSantis and Ingoglia stood at the podium with a “Stop Waste” sign. To their right was a life-size screen displaying a holographic image of Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan in a continuous loop.
Be Like Ron
Gov. DeSantis chastised city and county governments for not following the state’s example of reducing its budget over the past several years. “If you look at the state of Florida today, right now, the budget that we are operating under is less than the budget we operated under the year before. And that budget the year before was less than the budget the year before that.”
- After running through a list of state tax cuts and sales tax holidays, the governor said, “If you talk to folks, nobody that I’ve talked to is really complaining about taxes at the state level. They appreciate the tax relief. They appreciate no income tax. What they’re being squeezed by are taxes at the local level, with the property taxes.”
He said that reducing or eliminating property taxes on homesteads will make housing more affordable, calling it “the best way that we can provide relief for people throughout the state of Florida.”
Excessive Spending
CFO Ingoglia said, “Our office has been going around doing these FAFO (Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight) audits or calculations over the past couple of months, just trying to explain to people how your local government is taxing you to the hilt. We think that they are excessively spending and wastefully spending to the tune of billions of dollars.”
- He said, “In Orange County alone, $190 million of this year’s budget is wasteful and excessive, way past what it should be with inflation and population, right? And that’s assuming that they’re not running efficient. You could probably cut way more. In fact, our number for Orange County is probably closer to $230 million.”
Ingoglia called Jacksonville for $199 million worth of wasteful and excessive spending, Hillsborough County for $278 million, Alachua County for $84 million and Broward for $189
“All total, with just those five counties, we are almost $1 billion worth of the citizens of the state of Florida being overtaxed,” he said.
Dragging Pensacola
The City of Pensacola didn’t avoid criticism. Ingoglia said, “The City of Pensacola, they paid almost $600,000 for a large, neat neon—’Welcome to Pensacola Sign.’”
- Note: The Florida Department of Transportation helped pay for the sign as part of its budget for the Chappie James Bridge.
On social media, the state also criticized the City of Pensacola for $450,000 in “wasteful spending,” which accounts for approximately 1.6% of the city’s property tax revenue for FY 2026. The city was dinged for paying $150,000 to a management company for the Saenger Theatre, “that brings drag shows,” and $300,000 for an equity-focused strategic plan and residential “equity survey.”
- Mayor D.C. Reeves responded with a written statement: “The City of Pensacola learned of the Florida DOGE task force findings just like everyone else, from social media posts.
While we have received no formal communications from Florida DOGE, we are currently gathering information and will respond accordingly.”
Special Session?
During the Q&A portion of the media event, Gov. DeSantis said he would call a Special Session if state lawmakers don’t approve placing a property tax amendment on the 2026 ballot during the Regular Session.
“We really have to get it passed and on the ballot, prior to the primary cycle being done in August,” DeSantis said. “I’m not saying we’re going to wait that long, but, you know, we could potentially have a Special Session on property tax right in the middle of the Republican primary season in July or August.”
The governor also said he would unveil a detailed plan to slash property taxes in Florida.
- “I’m not just doing this to just go around and crow about property tax,” said DeSantis. “I want to see something big enacted. That’s the whole goal. So we’re doing that. We’ve got numbers, we’ve got language. We’re doing that. So that will happen. You guys will see that in due time.”
Getting Grown-ups in the Room
Pensacola lawmaker Alex Andrade has criticized the governor for not holding substantive policy discussions about property taxes. Last week, he said, “If Gov. DeSantis doesn’t want to be an adult in the room and engage in the discussion, but actually replacing that revenue, like an adult, like a grownup living in the real world, then the legislature’s going to have to do it for ‘em.”
Despite the challenges and criticisms, Andrade said, “I’m confident we’re going to put some referendum on the ballot related to eliminating or reducing property taxes.”
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At some point in the last few years, signage on the interstate as one enters or exits Florida have been updated to read, “Welcome to the free state of Florida” or “Thank you for visiting the free state of Florida.” I wonder how much THAT exercise itself promotion by the governor has cost the taxpayers of our state.
As for the $185,142 in city American Rescue Plan Act dollars used for the sign, that is money that could have been used for something else on the city’s NEED vice WANT list to include helping to pay for the reconstruction of the boardwalk at Bay Bluffs Park, etc. As for the welcome sign itself, it is openly in conflict with information on the the Florida Department of State website, see the link below, and also with the Official Seal of the City of Pensacola that makes no mention of 1559 and describes in part: “Sec. 1-1-2. – Seal. The seal of the city shall have on its face, ‘The City of Pensacola, Florida,’ with a circle around a shield with a Latin-type cross in the upper central part of the shield, at the base of which shall be a helmet with plumes, and above the shield a hand with a pen in the act of signing, and on the left side of the shield the figures ‘1698,’ the year of the first settlement of Pensacola by the Spaniards….” 1698 may not be the correct date either. In 1698, the Spanish did establish a settlement at the current NAS Pensacola. After being destroyed by the French, a new settlement was established on Santa Rosa Island. I think the best date to use for the settlement of the City of Pensacola may be 1754. If the city council did want to get the sign corrected, it could appoint a historical commission relying on facts vice fiction.
https://dos.fl.gov/historical/explore/el-camino-real/places-to-go/st-augustine/
So nice of DeSantis and his buddies to criticize local spending when Diaz is planning to spend $1 million on office renovations at UWF. When it’s their guy, they don’t seem to have a problem with it.