Florida state officials to conduct review of Palm Beach County spending

Shortly after requesting initial financial information, officials from Florida’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are now seeking additional records from Palm Beach County and will be visiting county offices next week to conduct a more thorough review of local government spending.

A team from DOGE, created by Governor Ron DeSantis, is scheduled to arrive in Palm Beach County offices on August 18 and 19 to begin examining financial records, regulations, and policies aimed at identifying wasteful spending. County Mayor Maria Marino received a letter on August 7 informing her of the upcoming review.

In the letter, DOGE officials expressed concern about rising tax collections, noting that county taxpayers “have watched as your county government has increased annual estimated property tax collections by nearly $480 million” since fiscal year 2020. They emphasized that “having entrusted their governments with the power to tax, the citizens of Florida have a right to expect that their elected officials will spend the collected funds responsibly and on truly necessary programs.”

The inspections are part of a broader statewide effort to “employ innovative technology to identify and eliminate unnecessary and oftentimes frivolous spending, to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity and to reform the federal workforce,” according to the executive order signed by Gov. DeSantis on February 24.

Similar reviews are underway in other Florida jurisdictions. Broward County recently provided DOGE officials with nearly 55,000 files for analysis, while in Orlando, Mayor Buddy Dyer confirmed that the state auditing team arrived Monday, with city staff preparing 27,000 files for review, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

Palm Beach County operates on a budget of $8.8 billion for 2024, supporting nearly 40 departments. Of that, almost $2.8 billion is allocated to the board of county commissioners, with nearly $1 billion dedicated to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

The August 7 letter from DOGE included detailed requests for specific documents and data that Palm Beach County officials are expected to provide before or during the site visit. These requests include:

• Information related to the “Green New Deal,” including county goals for “carbon or emissions reduction that have been adopted or are being pursued” and details on purchases of environmentally driven technology.

• Transportation-related data, such as records on the installation and maintenance of “traffic calming devices,” which may include speed humps, raised intersections, or curb extensions.

• Details on homeless services spending, encompassing all homeless-related programs and the county’s efforts to assess their effectiveness.

• An inventory of county-owned property and leases.

• Personnel compensation information, including total pay, salary increases, and performance standards and reviews for county employees earning more than $200,000.