TALHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) – Florida government efficiency has been traveling around Tampa Bay for the past few days to look at spending at local government level.
Doge says the county and city have been allegedly telling staff to delete, modify or manufacture information prior to a visit on site.
Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia warns that subpoena and forensic investigations could come next.
“We’ve heard this allegation from many sources, and that’s where we, the CFO’s office and the Doge team, are involved in us to investigate it,” Ingoglia said.
According to Ingoglia, it’s not the only pushback seen by the CFO.
“If they had nothing to hide, don’t worry about it. Just go in and do everything. But they have something to hide and what they’re hiding is wasted spending,” Ingoglia said.
Conversely, state Democrats continue to challenge Doge’s efforts, saying no one is opposed to accountability.
“In theory, audits to protect taxpayers are good. But the story we are on sale is that this is about financial responsibility. The story we are actually seeing is one of the national overreach and political targets. So this is not politically motivated at all.
“For a long time, we’ve put local governments accountable for their spending habits, so you’re seeing the pushback,” Ingoglia said.
CFO Ingoglia said the cities and counties he was trying to hide information from Doge were “not saying it freely,” but eight people on your side heard from his office to “continue tuning” on the municipal list.
