The Florida Department of Government Efficiency audited and interviewed Manatee County officials and staff onsite during the first week of August as part of statewide efforts to cut down on local government spending.
The initiative is led by Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia, who visited Manatee County on Aug. 5 at the start of the two-day DOGE onsite visit. Manatee County Director of Government Relations Stephanie Garrison told the Herald-Tribune that about a dozen representatives conducted interviews and reviewed county finances and expects DOGE to report findings within 60 days.
The DOGE audits have received mixed reactions from local governments across the state, but Manatee County has embraced the effort. County commissioners voted in April to volunteer for a DOGE audit, and echoed the state’s intent to cut down on unnecessary government spending.
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Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia talks to a small audience during a press conference in Bradenton, Fla. on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
DOGE reps largely worked to independently review county records and spent more time questioning county staff about line-item expenditures, the reasoning behind major spending and projects, before reviewing work culture conditions.
The reviewers initially were working separately without much interaction with county staff, Garrison said but on Wednesday she said staff “interacted with them a lot” on Aug. 6. “They went all the way up to deputy directors but some folks were manager level,” Garrison said.
“They think taxpayers deserve relief and they are going to find ways to do it, so they are looking at anything that might not be a necessary spend,” she said. “So we had a lot of conversations today about ‘what’s that about?’ ‘What’s that story,’ or ‘why did we spend that?’ That was a lot of the theme today.”
DOGE audits Manatee County, results expected in 60 days
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia talks to a small audience during a press conference in Bradenton, Fla. on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
DOGE efforts could lead to tax cuts in Manatee County, if efforts to find significant savings bear fruit.
Commissioners have already been vocal about desire to cut the tax rate during conversations about this year’s budget, and would likely follow through with changes proposed that help the county cut spending of taxpayer dollars, Manatee County Chairman George Kruse said.
“We volunteered for DOGE. Whether or not that’s why they are here, they are in places that didn’t volunteer, but we did, early,” Kruse said. “We are all on board with tax cuts. If someone can show me where we are operating things inneficiently that could allow for a meaningful adjustment in our taxes, that puts real dollars in people’s pockets that affect their lives, I am all on board with it. This entire board is all on board with it.”
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Manatee County recently created a Government Efficiency Liaison Committee, which is composed of five local residents appointed by commissioners, as a way to involve members of the community in the process.
The committee also visited Manatee County this week and has access to the same information provided to the state. They will meet with Manatee County on a monthly basis starting Aug. 26 to discuss potential tax savings as well.
“Once they present those, we will assess all of them and anything that makes sense we will enact,” Kruse said. “Any savings we get from those we will pass on through more meaningful tax cuts.”
Now that the site visit is over Garrison said staff felt encouraged by thorough efforts to cut down any excess spending that may be found.
“Honestly, I’m really proud of our team,” Garrison said. “This put a lot of pressure on our staff because not only are they having to retrieve something like 30,000 documents and stats, and things that seem like simple questions but sometimes they require digging and they require the context and history and storytelling of ‘why did we do that again? Who was here? Who was in charge?’ It was a lot of walking down memory lane in some cases.
“The week started out really nervous because you don’t really know what everything is going to be like, you’re just like a good student who can’t study enough for a hard test you’re a little bit nervous but you are prepared. Well now that the test is over all of us are like ‘okay’ we feel that pressure relieve,” she said.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Florida DOGE audit team checks out Manatee County spending in review