ORLANDO, Fla.- Today, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Blaise Ingoglia announced that the City of Orlando’s General Fund Budget has remained relatively close to population growth and inflation. The CFO’s Office’s calculations show $22 million in “excessive, wasteful spending”. CFO Ingoglia revealed that the difference between what the city’s budget should have grown by and what it actually grew by was 4.32%. This budget growth is the smallest percentage and dollar amount exposed out of 10 local governments reviewed so far.

Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said, “Local governments have repeatedly challenged our calculations and our methodology because they fear our results. But the same methodology that yielded egregious excessive spending in Orange County, Jacksonville and Miami-Dade has also yielded a smaller amount of excessive spending in the City of Orlando. Today, my question to the mayors of those other large metro areas is ‘what’s your excuse now?’ By our calculations, the same calculation used across all ten local governments we have reviewed, the City of Orlando has proven that you do not have to gouge your residents to serve your citizens. Even so, there is still plenty of room to provide Orlando residents with property tax relief.”

The City of Orlando’s General Fund Budget has increased by $191 million since Fiscal Year (FY) 2019-2020. In the same time period, the population of the city has grown by 24,190. For every new citizen that moved to Orlando, the budget increased by $7,910, and for a family of four, it increased by $28,760.

The City of Orlando could reduce its millage rate and still provide necessary services to residents. If the city applied this reduction, it would save homeowners:

• A taxable home value of $300,000 would save $119 per year
• A taxable home value of $400,000 would save $159 per year
• A taxable home value of $500,000 would save $198 per year

CFO Ingoglia has exposed over $1.5 billion in excessive, wasteful spending in the FY 2024-2025 General Fund Budget across ten 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.