Kissimmee restructured its business incentive program Tuesday due to concerns about the state’s DOGE audits and potential scrutiny of their spending.
City commissioners unanimously approved a new program to entice more businesses into the city, but it will no longer offer waivers or exemptions, limited rebates or make offers to demolish buildings for new development. Instead, it will offer bonuses based on performance.
“For us moving forward, and with all the bad word going around called DOGE, we just want to make sure wherever we’re investing tax payer resources, they’re being utilized to the maximum potential,” Mayor Jackie Espinosa said. “We just want to make sure we’re protected across the board.”
But it comes amid the city’s multimillion dollar investment to redevelop dilapidated buildings into upscale mixed use communities and a plan to transform the two districts specifically to attract commercial growth.
The new program was approved just hours after Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia blasted Seminole County’s spending at a press conference in Sanford. For months, the Florida Department of Governmental Efficiency has been inspecting county and city budgets across the state looking for alleged splurges of taxpayer dollars. In July, Orange County and Orlando were included among the largely Democratic local governments subject to audits.
Kissimmee also added caps on all incentives and removed nine previously offered rebates, including three rebates for creating American Disabilities Act-friendly upgrades.
“Providing incentives that are paid only after investments are completed and jobs are created ensures companies performance before public monies goes out,” said David Rodriguez, the city’s development director. “It gives us budget certainty.”
The city partners with six different business incubator programs whose clients have benefited from these incentives for years. But the city is now more closely inspecting those programs, looking for proof of effectiveness amid the fear of DOGE.
Prospera, an economic development organization that largely serves the Hispanic community, helped roughly 117 small business owners in Kissimmee last year. The organization has had a contract with the city for years to fund business assistance services but on Tuesday commissioners approved a contract of $20,000, a figure that has held steady for two years after having doubled in 2023.
Katia Medina, vice president of Prospera, told commissioners the organization sometimes refers clients to other business incubators and presented results from the program over the last five years. Mayor Jackie Espinosa questioned how effective their program really is and asked to see one year results instead.
“It’s more valuable to see it broken down by year to see if the need is increasing or decreasing,” Espinosa said. “Or is the need not as much now because there are many services out there.”
Residents seamed pleased with the increased review of taxpayer money. Alex Alemi, longtime Kissimmee resident, applauded the changes but told commissioners they could go even further. A new rule ensures that any combination of incentives offered are capped to a dollar amount equal to 10% of the capital expenditures in the project.
“I really like to see those caps in there … but I think the city could aim even higher,” Alemi said. “I think it demonstrates real fiscal responsibility.”
But Alemi said he didn’t like the new incentive to offer a refund up to 25% of ad valorem property taxes for up to 10 years for companies that stimulate or retain high wage jobs.
“We just heard the director say things like that are giving up on financial stability,” Alemi said. “Those kinds of incentives can really become a race to the bottom between different cities and that’s a race we don’t want to lose.”
