Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia said Wednesday that his push to eliminate property taxes on most homes is a “lofty goal” but it is achievable and will force local governments to cut wasteful spending.
Property taxes are by far the largest source of revenue for Florida cities and counties, a state without an income tax.
Ingolia — along with other Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis — have advocated this year for doing away with taxes on homesteaded properties as a way to make housing more affordable. They insist that will not harm key government services.
“We’ve calculated the numbers where they (local governments) can fully fund fire and police and do a lot of the essential services and still cut the budget,” Ingoglia said during a press conference in Lake Mary. “They’re just not trying. We’re going to show them the road map.”
Ingoglia added he plans to release more details in the coming weeks about how much tax money local governments “are actually wasting.” He is helping with DeSantis’ Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, modeled on the federal effort of the same name.
Ingoglia made the comments while surrounded by firefighters at the Lake Mary Fire Department. His press conference focused on taxes, firefighter safety and Thursday’s 24th anniversary of Sept. 11 attacks. As the state’s CFO, Ingoglia also is Florida’s top fire marshal.
During the event, he handed out checks totaling $1.4 million to 16 fire departments across Central Florida. The Orlando Sanford International Airport received the largest check for $1.04 million to purchase new firefighting vehicles. Lake Mary’s Fire Department received $6,000, and Orlando’s fire department received $5,300.
DeSantis tapped Ingoglia, a former state legislator, as Florida’s CFO last July to replace Jimmy Patronis, who was elected to Congress.
Ingoglia recently announced that he will run for Florida’s CFO, a Cabinet position, in 2026.
Last month, Ingoglia issued subpoenas to 16 Orange County employees as part of the DOGE team’s work to dig into what state leaders say is “egregious spending” by local governments.
“We’re telling them (Orange County): Don’t hide anything,” Ingoglia said Wednesday. “We just want to know how much is being spent on certain projects.”
Longwood Commissioner Matthew McMillan, who attended the event, said afterward he is “very concerned” about the push to eliminate taxes on homesteaded properties.
He said it will affect cities in different ways, depending on the number of properties that do not have homestead exemption — including commercial, industrial, apartment complexes and short-term rental properties.
“I think you have to look at those numbers to figure out how much the impact would be” for cities, he said. “I think it’s very complex. But it is an achievable goal. It’s going to require a lot of work.”
Ingoglia also urged people to remember and honor the hundreds of firefighters and other first responders that were killed on Sept. 11, 2001, during the terrorist attacks in New York City, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
He said firefighters today have higher rates of cancer and other terminal illnesses than almost any other professions because of plastics and other chemicals burning at a structure fire and flame-retardant chemicals on their equipment.
“When firefighters go into these situations, they are breathing in these toxins,” Ingoglia said. “It’s being absorbed into the skin. … Fighting fires today is much different than it was 40, 50 years ago.”
Wayne “Bernie” Bernoska, president of Florida Professional Firefighters in Tallahassee, said firefighters face “real risks” from the chemicals.
“Cancer has become one of the greatest risks to our firefighters,” he said. “Get these chemicals out of our gear.”
