LECANTO, Fla.- Today, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Blaise Ingoglia announced that Citrus County is excessively and wastefully spending more than $39 million in their General Fund Budget. Over the past six years, the budget has increased by 72.8%. CFO Ingoglia is calling upon Citrus County’s elected officials to offer substantial property tax relief and eliminate wasteful spending in the upcoming budget process. 

Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said, “We have now identified over $2 billion dollars in reckless spending caused by local government officials who have forgotten that they are spending taxpayer funds. My role as CFO is to put an end to this irresponsible behavior by exposing wasteful spending to the taxpayers. Our analysis shows that property tax relief is very much possible and desperately needed.”

Florida TaxWatch President and CEO Jeff Kottkamp said, “CFO Ingoglia continues to identify spending that greatly outpaces population and inflation growth in local governments across the state. Auditing local governments is the necessary first step to right-sizing budgets and ultimately being able to provide homeowners with meaningful property tax relief. We are proud to support the CFO in his call for responsible and transparent governance for Florida's taxpayers.”

Since Fiscal Year 2019-2020, the General Fund Budget has increased by $76,862,269. Additionally, the county’s population has increased by 15,314 people, representing a 10.09% increase. For every new person who moved to Citrus County, the budget increased by $5,019 per person. As for a family of four, the budget increased by $20,076. 

Citrus County has added 278 full-time employees since 2019-2020. However, only 64 of those positions were for first responders. 

The Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight (FAFO) found that the county could lower its millage rate by 2.23 mills without affecting any essential services provided to residents. If Citrus County applied this reduction, homeowners could save:

• A taxable home value of $400,000 would save $894 per year
• A taxable home value of $500,000 would save $1,117 per year
• A taxable home value of $600,000 would save $1,341 per year

CFO Ingoglia has uncovered over $2 billion in excessive and wasteful spending in the General Fund Budget over the past two fiscal years across fifteen local governments. CFO Ingoglia plans to continue to expose excessive, wasteful spending across the state as part of his role as Chief Financial Officer of Florida.