DeSantis targets Florida cities with audits, makes no mention of own no-bid spending

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ assault on local government spending comes even as his own office has spent millions of taxpayer dollars through no-bid contracts distributed under authority he gains by keeping Florida under a continued state of emergency.

DeSantis and his newly appointed Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia are demanding extensive finance and spending data from Florida cities and counties, many of which the Republican leaders accuse of misusing taxpayer dollars.

“I think there’s problems in local governments,” DeSantis recently said in Fort Lauderdale, where he promoted the arrival of audit teams from the CFO’s office.

DeSantis wants the Republican-dominated Legislature to put on next year’s ballot a still-to-be-defined proposal to overhaul property taxes, likely reducing the basic fuel of city and county governments.

The term-limited governor, whose successor will be elected on that same November ballot, is certain to use any excessive spending or waste unearthed by auditors as a defense against pushback from cities and counties, whose officials already warn that his idea could lead to reductions in public services, including police and fire.

Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the swearing-in ceremony for Blaise Ingoglia, who now serves as the Florida Chief Financial Officer, Monday, July 21, 2025.

But the administration’s aggressive approach made its goal clear: “We are on a mission to prove there is a whole lot of stuff they don’t want to cut that they can cut,” Ingoglia said.

More targets in sight, potentially in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties

Some of the early targets for audits are the Democratic-leaning locales of Broward County and the city of Gainesville. DeSantis said more will be singled out in coming weeks, including Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Absent from DeSantis and Ingoglia’s auditing pitches, though, is any re-evaluation of the governor’s own spending practices. DeSantis has steered at least $225 million of taxpayer money into no-bid contracts to build the migrant processing center called Alligator Alcatraz, west of Miami in the Florida Everglades.

The no-bid deals are allowed under a state of emergency on immigration that he signed in 2023 and has since extended 15 times, giving him extraordinary power.

The South Florida facility, which can hold at least 3,000 detainees, is expected to cost another $450 million a year to run. DeSantis says that cost will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency – which President Trump wants to close by year’s end.

Along with removing details on 11 of the no-bid contracts from a public database after the media began reporting on them, the DeSantis administration has rebuffed questions from critics about the spending.

“Here you have a state government operating a half-a-billion-dollar, no-bid contract; sent to a facility in the middle of the Everglades; hiding contracts from the public; not answering any questions about basic operations and maintenance and doing it under an outdated emergency order,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who demanded that DeSantis rescind his executive order on immigration.

Eskamani, who is running for Orlando mayor in 2027, acknowledged that city and county governments always should look for “opportunities to be smarter with spending.”

At play: 'Pure political ideology,' critic says

“But this is not about good governance. This is just about pure political ideology,” she added, on DeSantis’ push to mimic the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, formerly headed by billionaire Elon Musk, who clashed with Trump over legislation adding $3.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.

DeSantis' reliance on emergency orders to hand out no-bid contracts began in earnest during the COVID-19 pandemic, when at least two dozen deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars were approved for supplies, staffing and vaccine centers.

The waves of no-bid contracts provide little transparency or signs that there was competition for these taxpayer dollars. Nomi Health, a Utah company that received at least $50 million for COVID-related work, later poured $100,000 into DeSantis’ political committee.

In unleashing audits of local governments, DeSantis cited examples where Broward County and Gainesville experienced only modest population growth recently but still forged ahead with significant budget expansion.

Tax revenue collections had climbed, the governor said, powered mostly by rising property values that drew dollars into government even when tax rates held steady. DeSantis said tax rates should be going down instead.

While the governor praised the state's budget for declining each of the past two years and for his having reduced state debt, he did not acknowledge that the $117.4 billion spending plan also benefited from rising property values.

Florida budget aided by boost in property values

The state’s $945.1 million increase in state education spending relied mostly on higher property tax collections. More than $579 million of the boost came from local property owners, under the state’s so-called “required local effort,” or RLE.

Now, DeSantis is criticizing cities and counties from similarly benefiting from rising home values.

No state has yet eliminated property taxes altogether. In Florida, they are the biggest source of dollars for 51 of 67 counties and almost half of the state’s 411 cities.

Still, while property taxes finance most local services, DeSantis is tapping into what could be a rising frustration for many owners.

More than $55 billion in property taxes flowed to counties, cities, school boards and Florida’s special districts last year – more than double what was collected in 2014. It’s 46% higher than the amount taken in statewide just four years ago, state records show.

But while tax receipts rose 13% in each of 2022 and 2023, last year’s 8% rise reflected that house prices and sales were falling or at least leveling off.

Still, DeSantis’ call for a property tax overhaul next year may still be a long shot. Although Republicans command the Legislature, 60% approval is needed in the House and Senate to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.

Then, at least 60% of voters statewide must approve the measure for it to become law.

Is audit tour the 'next act' of DeSantis' 'political theater'?

Jeff Brandes, a Republican former state senator from Pinellas County, questioned DeSantis’ latest effort.

Brandes, who now runs the Florida Policy Project research group, said there’s nothing wrong with scrutinizing spending by cities and counties. But whatever Ingoglia’s teams find and hold up as shocking examples of waste is likely also present in state government.

He’d earlier ridiculed DeSantis’ spending on the Everglades migrant center: “We’re saying it is not supposed to be the Ritz-Carlton, but we’re paying Ritz-Carlton prices.”

Brandes said it’s clear the governor has not proposed a tax-cutting plan because it will be so difficult to defend.

“This is the political theater of Florida, and this is just the next act,” Brandes said. “If he was serious about cutting taxes, why is he waiting until year seven of his administration to do this?”

John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected], or on X at @JKennedyReport.