BOCA RATON, Fla. — Florida's Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia held a news conference in Boca Raton Tuesday, claiming that Palm Beach County is spending money "like drunken sailors."
And he was quickly challenged by the county’s administrator, who made a surprise appearance.
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“When you say we don’t know how our budget works, we do, and that’s what I’m trying to get you to come down and sit with me, sit with our budgets," Palm Beach County Administrator Joe Abruzzo said during a back-and-forth exchange that went on for about two minutes after Ingoglia’s news conference.
“Listen to the taxpayers and listen to their concerns,” Ingoglia answered.
While Ingoglia did not break down what exactly the county is overspending on, he brought his Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight (FAFO) methodology of government accountability to Boca Raton's Palm Beach State campus to say that Palm Beach County tallied $1.23 billion since 2020 in "excessive and wasteful spending."
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"That is money that has been collected that they did not need to collect in our estimation to run local government," said Ingoglia. "This is the amount over and above inflation, population and the five percent buffer over the last six years. That is an astonishing number, that is an eye-popping number."
He went on to say that the majority of that wasteful spending happened over the last three or four years.
"What happened over the last three or four years? Property values started skyrocketing. Which meant property tax receipts started skyrocketing. Which means budgets started exploding only because they got that extra revenue. They didn't four years ago. How are they barely getting by?" Ingoglia asked.
Ingoglia said that in the last fiscal year, Palm Beach County overspent by $443 million.
He added that it was in the "voters best interest to vote for property tax reform" that will be on the November ballot.
"It's important to know that property taxes are not going up because of essential services. I think we've proved that today" Ingoglia said. "It's not going up because the amount of population commensurate to their budget. It's going up because of excessive, wasteful and needless spending by career politicians who think that you guys are an endless ATM."
Abruzzo countered that the majority of the county’s budget is for PBSO at $1.1 billion and fire rescue at about $700 million.
“Our first responders should be protected, the [Board of County Commissioners] has a budget of $609 million,” Abruzzo told Ingoglia.
“So now it’s the sheriff, it’s police’s fault,” Ingoglia answered back.
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“Joe, please listen to the taxpayers, the taxpayers are all of our bosses,” Ingoglia fired back as he left the room.
Abruzzo says the CFO has repeatedly ignored his public records requests for more details on how the county is overspending.
“All I want if for the CFO to actually come sit down, have a working meeting so he understands the budget,” Abruzzo said.
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