Florida's war on government waste just hit a major roadblock.
One Democrat mayor decided to fight back instead of cooperating.
And St Petersburg’s Mayor just made one mistake that has Florida DOGE furious.
Florida CFO Exposes $49 Million in St. Pete Overspending
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia dropped a bombshell Wednesday that should make every St. Petersburg taxpayer furious.
His Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight found the city wastefully spent $49 million in the 2025-2026 budget compared to pre-pandemic spending levels.
St. Petersburg's general fund budget exploded by nearly $133 million between fiscal years 2019-2020 and now — a 48 percent increase.
That works out to $11,557 for each new resident or $46,228 for each family of four that moved to the city.
The city gained 11,504 new residents over six years and hired 371 new employees.
But only 65 of those new hires were first responders.
"The rest were absolutely nothing but bureaucrats and administrative personnel," Ingoglia said.
The city spent more than $300,000 on sustainability initiatives.
The mayor's office saw salary increases topping $1 million since 2019.
"It's concerning because government just thinks that you're an ATM," Ingoglia stated. "Zero fiscal constraint whatsoever, taking all the extra money that is available to them, never even thinking once of giving it back to the taxpayers."
https://twitter.com/CFOIngoglia/status/2016650129759936675?s=20
The city could cut the millage rate by 1.34 mills without disrupting necessary services.
That would save a homeowner with a $400,000 property about $535 annually.
Mayor Welch Calls Audit "Political Theater"
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch skipped Ingoglia's news conference and fired back on social media instead.
He dismissed the findings as "political theater" and "unsubstantiated."
"Recent national events remind us of the harm that false and politically motivated official statements can create," Welch wrote. "The CFO's claims are unsubstantiated and targeted to support the obvious political agenda of justifying property tax changes, regardless of the impacts on police and fire service delivery by local governments. We will continue to operate based on facts, not conjecture."
Instead of addressing the $49 million in overspending, Welch tried hiding behind police and fire departments.
The city's own numbers show 76 percent of tax revenue goes to police and 12.5 percent to fire rescue.
But that doesn't explain why St. Pete needed 306 new bureaucrats while adding only 65 first responders.
The Florida DOGE report identified St. Petersburg as having "some of the most egregious examples of wrongful DEI among the locations visited, and elected officials have publicly defended these programs."
Welch encouraged residents to check the city's budget documents online while his staff worked to "verify" Ingoglia's claims.
Ingoglia fired back Thursday on X with a question Welch couldn't dodge.
"QUESTION for Mayor Ken Welch: How much rotting infrastructure, broken sewer lines and flooding problems could you have already fixed if you didn't waste the $49M last year on bureaucrats?"
https://twitter.com/CFOIngoglia/status/2016580107326935525?s=20
St. Petersburg has real problems that need fixing.
But Welch spent taxpayer money expanding the bureaucracy and funding woke initiatives instead.
Statewide Pattern of Democrat City Waste
St. Petersburg isn't alone getting caught raiding the taxpayer cookie jar.
Florida DOGE exposed nearly $1.86 billion in excessive spending across 11 local governments over six months.
Democrat-run municipalities dominate the list of worst offenders.
Jacksonville spent $75,000 for a hologram of Mayor Donna Deegan and $7.5 million for a one-mile sidewalk project — nearly eight times the typical cost.
Orlando spent $460,000 since 2020 to count trees and $150,000 over three years on services helping illegal aliens evade deportation.
Pensacola pays $150,000 annually for drag shows at the city theater.
Gainesville pays its Director of Equity and Inclusion $189,000.
Broward County spent $890,000 on DEI training since 2020 and $175,000 creating virtual art in the Metaverse.
Palm Beach County led Florida with $344 million in wasteful spending.
This isn't accounting errors or budget miscalculations.
Democrat officials are treating taxpayers like ATMs to fund radical leftist priorities.
"I have traveled the state to expose nearly $1 billion in wasted taxpayer dollars across just FIVE local governments," Ingoglia said. "Local governments are crying poor but continue to spend wastefully on things like 'counting trees.' The taxpayers are tired of it, which is why property tax relief is their top concern."
https://twitter.com/CFOIngoglia/status/2014324969702818183?s=20
The audits are building momentum for a 2026 constitutional amendment to reform property taxes.
Florida's median home price jumped from under $300,000 in July 2020 to over $400,000 in 2025.
Democrat officials took that windfall in tax revenue and expanded government instead of providing relief.
Mayor Welch's response shows exactly what's wrong with Democrat governance.
Instead of fixing the problem, he attacked the messenger and played victim.
Florida taxpayers are watching their money get flushed on bureaucrats, DEI consultants, and climate fantasies.
And they're done with it.
Sources:
- Tiffany Razzano, "Mayor Called FL Official's Claims That St. Pete Overspent By $49M 'Political Theater'," Patch, January 29, 2026.
- Colleen Wright, "Florida CFO: St. Petersburg overspent $49 million," Tampa Bay Times, January 29, 2026.
- Frank Kopylov, "Florida CFO Ingoglia fires back at St. Petersburg mayor over wasteful spending," Florida News, January 29, 2026.
- Mark Parker, "Here's what DOGE's 'audit' allegedly found in St. Pete," Thrive, January 29, 2026.
- S.G. de León y León, "CFO claims 'wasteful,' 'excessive' spending in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties," 10 Tampa Bay News, January 28, 2026.
