ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — State Auditor and Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia is warning about excessive spending in St. Lucie County, estimating the county has overtaxed and overspent residents by $46 million.
WATCH BELOW: Florida CFO says St. Lucie County overspent by $46M
Ingoglia highlighted the findings of a Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight audit during a news conference on Thursday. The audit noted the county's funds surged by $123 million in six years. Ingoglia is now pushing for a property tax cut that could save homeowners hundreds of dollars a year.
St. Lucie County has one of the highest property tax rates in Florida, and residents say they can feel the financial impact.
"I think they’re too high, it's out of control," resident Sue Sparhawk said.
"I’m a realtor here in Port St. Lucie, and everyone's complaining about the tax rates," resident Arthur Bimonte said.
The state audit looks at inflation and population growth to calculate how much a region’s budget should have changed from one year to the next.
"St. Lucie County, after you do that index, we believe overtaxed and overspent the residents by the tune of $46 million," Ingoglia said.
Ingoglia acknowledged St. Lucie County’s rapid growth but said it should not have resulted in such a significant budget increase.
"Nobody’s denying that there’s going to be a need for additional service, but what is also undeniable is that the cost to deliver those services went through the roof," Ingoglia said.
Residents are questioning how the county reached those spending levels.
"I want to know how that happened," Sparhawk said.
"Where are they justifying the numbers?" Bimonte said.
WPTV reporter Cassandra Garcia reached out to the county for a response to Ingoglia’s allegations of overspending and overtaxing. St. Lucie County Communications Director Erick Gill responded in a statement:
St. Lucie County is committed to responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars and to providing essential services that protect public safety, maintain infrastructure and support the quality of life our residents expect and deserve.
County staff follows established budgeting and accounting processes as well as annual independent financial audits. These processes ensure transparency, accountability and compliance with all applicable state and federal requirements. The Board of County Commissioners’ budgets are developed through a public process that includes multiple advertised public hearings, oversight by elected commissioners, opportunities for community input and continuous review by a citizen’s budget committee, made up of local residents and taxpayers.
We welcome constructive dialogue about government accountability and remain confident in the integrity of the county’s financial management. We have asked the CFO’s Office to provide a detailed spreadsheet showing how today’s numbers were derived. We don’t disagree with the methodology, but we do question where some of the numbers and figures came from. As an example, CFO Ingoglia claimed that the Board of County Commissioners added more than 200 employees in the past five years, yet our budget books show an increase of roughly 130 new employees. Even with the additional employees, the Board of County Commissioners employee count is still less than it was in 2007, while today’s residential population is more than 140,000 additional residents.
Ingoglia also claimed the county can do more to reduce property taxes.
"We believe that St. Lucie County could reduce your property tax bill by 1.04 mills," Ingoglia said.
Taxpayers say they expect changes to come during the next budget cycle.
"I think that they need to tighten the belt a little bit," Bimonte said.
"I hope they take everything into consideration and our taxes get lowered because that is the right thing to do," Sparhawk said.
Portions of this story were assisted by artificial intelligence tools and reviewed by a WPTV journalists to ensure accuracy, clarity, and adherence to editorial standards.
