Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia adopted the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative proposed by billionaire Elon Musk during the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
The federal DOGE effort relied on audits and line-by-line reviews of federal spending, pointing to overspending and making budget cuts based on information gathered from within federal agencies.
More than 20 years ago, Florida Senate President John McKay and House Speaker Tom Feeney, with the enthusiastic support of then-Governor Jeb Bush, did something similar, but through a different process called zero-based budgeting.
Because Florida, like every other state except Vermont, must produce a balanced budget, Congress and Governor Bush recognized that in tough economic times, fiscal restraint is an order of magnitude, at least for conservative Republicans.
I vividly remember that at the beginning of his term, as the economic situation began to trend downward, it was decided that all state agencies had to draw up prospective budgets with cuts of 20% and 10%.
This pre-DOGE effort was great.
That’s because every agency head, department, and department leader had to scrutinize their budgets and determine (a) what state law requires the agency to do at the bare minimum, and (b) what else the agency is spending money on beyond basic compliance with state law.
The heads of all government agencies knew this was fraught with danger. That’s because it reveals what the base budget is based on and what state law requires it to accomplish. Anything above this minimum amount may be considered discretionary spending.
While that spending may have been ordered by a previous governor or legislature, the funds were not required to be spent to further the agency’s core mission.
At the time, this radical concept was not appreciated by everyone as significant budget cuts could have been considered. I recall that the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee encouraged agency heads to quickly conduct these two exercises and submit them for legislative review.
While most agency heads dragged their feet, one agency head took on the challenge and was the first to submit a budget proposal. Then-FDLE Director James “Tim” Moore came forward, and as a result, his budget proposal was accepted without comment or challenge, with the chairman congratulating him on his first place and warning other agencies to get in line and not be last in line, as they would be sure to receive more scrutiny.
To me, this is something Florida cities and counties should embrace as property tax reform discussions begin and a constitutional reform movement could begin in the fall.
CFO Ingoglia has already selected some cities and counties to be audited by DOGE, but what happens if cities and counties decide to voluntarily request 20% and 10% cuts from agency heads for budgeting purposes?
The CFO suggested that local spending easily outpaces inflation, leaving room for future local budget cuts, although law enforcement and first responders are not harmed in the process.
Recognizing that not all local governments tax and spend in the same way, nor do their budget processes be the same, this exercise will demonstrate to taxpayers that local governments are willing to be reflective and accountable to taxpayers.
The results document the minimum cost of operating each department and also show where and how much of that department’s other funds are spent.
In this way, taxpayers and local elected officials will have the hard facts about the budget they need to drive policy discussions about what non-mandatory spending is or is not necessary to reach consensus in the community.
All government spending must be periodically reexamined to ensure that spending is not going out of control.
Florida’s elected leaders have a duty to taxpayers, and the sooner the process begins, the sooner we will know the results.
Certainly, many cities and counties in Florida will ignore this reasonable proposal. And if you live in one of those places, it’s a challenge to get leaders to cooperate, because while you likely won’t see a reduction in inflation costs right away, you’ll probably see a slowing in cost increases.
What Bush, Thrasher, and Feeney started 20 years ago is needed again today.
The results of their actions led to the prosperity our state enjoys today: low taxes, low state debt, low unemployment, and a place where many Americans still want to move.
Bernie Bishop III is the former Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party and former CEO of Florida Associated Industries, known as the “Voice of Florida Business.” He is currently the CEO of Barney Bishop Consulting in Tallahassee. He can be reached at Barney@BarneyBishop.com.
