FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Officials with the state’s Department of Governmental Efficiency Task Force made a stop in South Florida to audit Broward County’s finances.
The audit kicked off at Broward County Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, following comments from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s chief financial officer, Blaise Ingoglia, earlier this month.
“Broward County, unfortunately, is probably one of the worst offenders when it comes to spending,” said Ingoglia.
DeSantis said nine state DOGE auditors will comb through thousands of Broward’s financial records and data systems to find wasteful spending. The audit is expected to run through the end of the day Friday.
State officials’ main concerns with the county are over a recent property tax increase and spending on climate change programs and transportation.
Broward County Mayor Beam Furr told 7News the audit will be a teaching opportunity for taxpayers.
“For the citizens, they’ll have a chance to see how government works, a lot of parts that they may not know about,” he said. “If you’re going into, whether it’s climate change or [diversity, equity and inclusion] or transportation or procurements, these things that they may not know that their government is doing for them. Now they’re going to find out about it, and so, I’m looking at it as a teachable moment.”
Responding to DeSantis’ criticism of the recent property tax increase, Furr said it was due to inflation.
“It’s 32%, so we’re exactly in line with what one would expect with inflation and population growth,” he said.
Furr also rejected the governor’s concerns over other budgetary spending.
“It would be malfeasance and irresponsible for this commission, not to be dealing with climate change,” he said. “Most of my district is about 10 feet above sea level. I know that in the next 50 years, that’s gonna cause a lot of issues. If I’m living in Tallahassee, I don’t have to worry about that.”
Earlier this month, DeSantis and Ingoglia demanded that local governments throughout Florida receive comprehensive audits following concerns over potential mismanaged funding.
“We don’t have to ask, ‘Mother, may I?’ We can just say, ‘You must comply under the law,’” said DeSantis.
But Furr said the county already has overspending safeguards in place, such as internal auditors and a spending oversight committee.
“If they find some things that we can do better, we’ll do better,” he said.
Officials said that after auditing Broward, the auditors will head to Manatee County, a Republican county, and then to the City of Gainesville.
The governor said the audits are far from over, as every county statewide should expect to be audited as well.
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