Florida DOGE wants cities to 'voluntarily' report their own fiscal problems

Jeffrey Schweers and Ryan Gillespie, Orlando Sentinel on Mar 20, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken the unprecedented step this week of asking city and county administrators about any financial problems they have or expect to have, one of the first official acts of his newly created Department of Government Efficiency.

In a social media post on X Tuesday, DeSantis said he was “calling on all Florida counties and municipalities to voluntarily work with our Florida DOGE team to review local spending and financial practices.”

The FL DOGE letter, sent via email Tuesday, was so unusual that Winter Park officials initially thought it was a phishing attempt.

John Newton, a retired administrative law judge with 45 years of legal experience, said it sounds as though DeSantis is trying to take over an oversight function the state already performs.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Newton said. But, he added, DeSantis “believes in unitary executive authority, that all government power rests in the executive office and all other branches are subordinate.”

DeSantis issued an executive order creating Florida DOGE in February, after President Trump created a federal DOGE and put billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk in charge of slashing budgets and laying off workers in an attempt to trim billions out of the federal budget.

The Florida DOGE task force is supposed to use AI and other new technologies to identify waste and noncompliance in state and local governments, universities and colleges, DeSantis said. He said it will look for bloat in local government spending as a way to address what he called massive budget increases.

The letter demands a response in writing by April 8 of any problems they have had going back seven years or expect to have in the next six months, asking them to detail the specific circumstances, corrective action taken, a contact person, and any other information “relevant to compliance with statutory financial obligations.”

Any cities or counties that fail to respond will be presumed to be in “possible statutory violation and in need of assistance,” the letter said.

The instances of financial emergency or distress they must document include unpaid short-term loans, uncontested claims from creditors, debt service payments on bonds, the transfer of taxes, social security payments or pension contributions, or a budget deficit.

“It’s five quick answers of no. None of these apply to us,” Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said. She posted a copy of the email on Facebook.

Cliff Shepard, an attorney who represents cities and towns across Florida, said he suspects that most cities will chart a similar course in response to the letter – though some might file legal challenges.

County commissioners in general have said, “Come on down, we are an open book,” said Cragin Mosteller, director of external affairs for the Florida Association of Counties.

“Our governments have some of the most open records to the public,” Mosteller said. Budgets are posted online and public hearings are held to give residents a chance to voice their opinions. “One of the best attributes of all local government is their openness,” he added.

Counties and cities are already required under law to report serious financial problems to the governor or Legislature for potential corrective action. They also approve in public their budgets and tax rates, which every member of the public can access online, and submit annual audits to lawmakers.

The letter refers to Florida Statute 218.503, which outlines the duties of local entities that find themselves in financial trouble.

They are supposed to report to the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee if any of the conditions in the email are met or expected to be met. The Auditor General also can notify the committee if it discovers a financial problem that can’t be solved without outside assistance.

Several cities and governments are listed as under an emergency status, including Black majority towns of Eatonville in Orange County, Pahokee on Lake Okeechobee and Opa-Locka in Miami-Dade County, as well as several small, mostly white rural towns of fewer than 500 people in Florida’s Panhandle, according to the most recent annual report of the Governor’s Office of the Chief Inspector General released in September.

The Inspector General already conducts annual inquiries of cities and counties whenever it receives a notice about potential financial problems, looking into 26 governments in 2023-24.

The office also monitored other local governmental entities for that year based on concerns discovered through committee meetings, news articles, residents’ letters, and questions from state and local government officials. After investigating those concerns, the office determined no new fiscal emergencies, the audit said.

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