MIAMI — In a news conference that felt more like a stump speech for an upcoming 2026 Constitutional Amendment, Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia advocated for the elimination of property taxes.
What remains unclear is how exactly that could impact local services residents rely on.
Ingogloa also called Miami’s budget “bloated,” saying that accounting for inflation and population growth, city “blew” past what he believes should be the budget total by $94 million and that government in general has a overspending problem.
Ingoglia was the chairman for the political action committee Empower Parents, which was formerly called Friends of Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis later selected Ingogloa to be the state’s CFO.
“Of course there is still going to be money for parks, what we are saying is that you can cut that $94 million dollars and still pay for essential services,” Ingogloa said Thursday.
The CFO made those claims with presenting any auditing details of how state DOGE task force members arrived at their assessment.
“When we are done with all of these audits, we are going to release a big book,” he said. “It is going to be awhile until we get there.”
When DeSantis announced the creation of a state DOGE task force in February, his news release stated it “will work to further eliminate waste within state government” but in recent months, the state’s focus appears to be on local budgets.
From Miami-Dade to Broward, Ingoglia has been on a campaign trail of sorts.
“We are doing this for property tax reform, possibly the elimination of homestead and property taxes all together,” he said. “There is going to be a constitutional amendment on the ballot.”
Local 10 News spoke to Suzanne Hollander, an attorney and former Florida International University real estate law professor, about the CFO’s claims and plans.
“If passed, Florida would be the first state pass a total elimination of property taxes,” she said. “I think we need to look very closely on what eliminating property taxes could impact. We could cut the pie many different ways, additional taxes for tourism and services, just eliminating taxes on homesteaded properties, and put on some of that burden on commercial properties. Those are some of the ways government services that could still be funded.”
Several of Miami mayoral candidates are responding to the claims by Ingoglia about the city’s budget being “bloated.”
They were also asked about Ingoglia’s advocacy to eliminate property taxes and determine from Tallahassee what local budget priorities are, in the state’s view, “wasteful.”
Local 10 News reached out to the top five candidates, per analysts, for their take.
Here is what they had to say:
Emilio Gonzalez (former city manager): “There are plenty of places where we can look at and say you know what is in the must-have and what is in the nice to have. This is my stump speech. Let’s be bold and let’s aim high. Let’s give our residents back some of the money that they need because living here is not cheap.”
Eileen Higgins (Miami-Dade commissioner): “As I said at last week’s debate and since the day I announced my campaign, the city of Miami’s chaos and corruption has left taxpayers paying for more while getting less in services. This isn’t a this year problem either, it goes back years and yet the same city hall insiders are on the ballot.”
Ken Russell (former Miami commissioner): “There is no doubt that there is waste in the city of Miami budget and that the mileage rate can come down, our taxes can come down, but this is not the business of the State of Florida and DeSantis’ DOGE team. For them to decide what our mileage should be or what our taxes should be, our residents elect our elected officials to deal with these issues and hold them accountable so we simply need good leadership here that runs the city efficiently and lowers taxes as necessary.”
Xavier Suarez (former Miami mayor and father of the city’s outgoing mayor, Francis Suarez): “I can tell you that I am supporting an increase in the homestead exemption to $500,000 and that will require some reduction of expenditures in the range of 5% of the operating budget, which is $1.7 billion, so that gets you right close to the figure that the CFO mentioned.”
Local 10 is still waiting for responses from Joe Carollo, a current city commissioner.
Additionally, Local 10 reached out to the city and all of its current commissioners for a statement. Any responses will be listed below.
City of Miami: “The CFO’s spending analysis is incomplete. It’s important to note the shortsightedness of drawing broad conclusions from just a few data points without considering external factors. Beyond inflation and population growth within the city boundary, the City of Miami provides services to thousands of individuals who work in the city but reside elsewhere within Miami-Dade or other surrounding areas of South Florida. As Miami-Dade County’s urban core, the City of Miami serves as the government seat for the majority of city, county, state, and federal agencies. The urban core also houses most of our major corporations and attracts a significant number of visitors each year. As the primary provider of essential services to those buildings and complex infrastructure, the City maintains primary responsibility for public safety and infrastructure management and operations. The City’s financial and operational stability remains vital to ensuring continued service delivery and sustaining economic vitality for residents, visitors, and the community at large. A formula applied to a suburban or rural city would never reasonably apply to a city that inherently is as complex and unique as the City of Miami.”
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez: “Recent comments from Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia suggesting Miami ‘overspent’ by $90 million misrepresent the facts. Miami has shown real fiscal discipline, making tough choices to protect taxpayers while maintaining essential services. We’ve cut salaries, capped pensions, and restructured operations, saving more than $100 million in labor costs. Under my leadership, Miami reduced its millage rate, our local property tax rate, to the lowest level in city history, delivering real, measurable tax relief to residents. By contrast, the State of Florida has never reduced its 6 percent sales tax, the single largest tax burden paid by Floridians. What they’ve offered instead are short-term tax holidays and temporary exemptions, essentially tax gimmicks, not permanent structural relief. Meanwhile, the state’s budget has grown from $92 billion in FY 2020–21 to $117 billion in FY 2025–26, a $25 billion increase, or nearly 25 percent growth in five years. Miami isn’t overspending, we’re leading by example. We’re delivering results within our means, lowering taxes responsibly, and setting the statewide standard for efficient, accountable government."
District 4 Commissioner Rafael Rosado: “The City of Miami is in a strong financial position — maintaining low millage rates, healthy reserves, and a balanced surplus. At today’s Commission meeting, I sponsored a resolution urging the State to expand its property-tax relief program for seniors, because we believe our residents deserve real relief. I welcome an extra pair of eyes around the City’s budget and discussion around recent figures. We remain committed to ensuring every public dollar is used wisely and in service to the people of Miami.”
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Broward Mayor Beam Furr: “I think next year the governor is probably going to be trying to put forth a property tax legislation. Maybe he’s trying to find ways to support that, which I can understand. I can understand what he’s trying to do. You know, if there’s a way to help on that -- everybody would like to pay less taxes, but if you ask people ‘You want less public safety? Do you not want to have your public school there? Do you want your roads not to be taken care of?’ Then you get a different answer.”
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