- April 6, 2026
Despite Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia’s stop in Flagler County last week to lambast Flagler’s “wasteful” budget, some Flagler County Commissioners felt the report left the county without a clear way to address issues for residents.
“It’s a ridiculous report,” Commissioner Greg Hansen said. “It was a campaign trip by this gentleman, and that’s all it was. He was trying to get his name out there so he could get reelected.”
Ingoglia held a press conference on March 26 at the Hammock Dunes Club where he told a select group of Flagler stakeholders the county had wasted around $59 million of taxpayer money in the last budget. Flagler County, he said, had the biggest proportional waste, with a general fund budget that increased from $92.5 million in 2019 to $202.7 million in 2025.
Ingoglia’s formula is based on the pre-COVID budgets and calculates waste by taking the base 2019 budget and accounting for inflation and population growth. Anything over that number is considered wasteful spending. According to Ingoglia, the county could reduce the millage by 1.40 without losing essential services.
The CFO is running for reelection as he was appointed to the position in 2025.
Hansen said the CFO’s statements had no backup, nothing the county could look at and see what it could fix. The report, he said, did not even deserve a comment.
Commission Kim Carney said she disagreed with Hansen, and felt that the county needed to be able to explain things to her constituents.
“No data, no explanation, means I don't know what to tell people,” Carney said.
Carney brought up Ingoglia’s comments during the Commissioner Comments section of the April 6 meeting. She said Interim County Administrator Adam Mengel had requested a report from the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight to review the discrepancies.
Apparently, she said, there isn’t one. But as the county goes through its budgeting process, she said they need to embrace some of the concepts proposed by the FAFO.
“With everything, whether we agree with the actual number or not, it's the concept that I think that we need to start embracing,” she said.
Commissioner Andy Dance said he has spent the week trying to build back the trust with Flagler residents.
“What the CFO did was come in and just blow apart our trust with the community,” Dance said. “And that is part of the process, building that back and explaining exactly what we have been accomplishing.”
The one formula can’t be carried across the different counties, he said, and Flagler County was not in the best financial position in 2019 to begin with.
Dance suggested the county use its transparency board to have a specific page on the facts of FAFO, which could also show the county’s successes, like the increase to its reserve funds and how that saves taxpayer money.
Both Dance and Commissioner Pam Richardson also supported the county getting ahead of any potential future meetings with DOGE — the Department of Government Efficiency — and begin preparing reports.
“I think we have to be more precise with our numbers,” Richardson said. “And sharpen our pencils, make sure that we are sending out factual, actual information.”
Pennington said she understands Ingoglia’s center argument, which is to avoid growing government disproportionately to the amount of growth in the county.
“That comes with DOGE-ing efficiencies and all of that in cleaning out waste and reprioritizing the needs over the wants,” she said.
But, she said, the CFO should have seen the positives the county has worked for over the years: increasing its low bond rating to a double A+, increasing the county’s reserve fund, paying off debt, and working toward building the beach back.
“I don't know how they missed it, being the CFO, but it happened,” she said. “It is what it is. ‘Do better,’ is the message from the state, I guess.”
