DOGE singles out St. Pete; city clarifies claims

Gov. Ron DeSantis highlighted “findings of waste, fraud and abuse” by 10 local governments Wednesday. St. Petersburg and Pinellas County were on the list. 

A Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) infographic states that St. Petersburg used $258,000 in utility and EMS (emergency medical service) funding to support Pride events. The agency also notes the city spent $307,000 on a climate action plan to drive Green New Deal initiatives – referencing a 2019 congressional resolution that lawmakers have yet to pass. 

DeSantis and Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who leads DOGE, repeatedly claim that “reckless spending” and “woke initiatives” lead to exorbitant property taxes, despite years of lowered local millage rates. The city offered a lengthy explanation in response to the allegations Thursday afternoon. 

“It should be noted that neither of the expenditures called out were funded by property taxes,” wrote Public Information Officer Samantha Bequer.

She said officials have reviewed DOGE’s “wasteful spending claims” and sought to “provide clarification on their interpretation of the city’s financial data. The task force conducted on-site audits in St. Petersburg over two days in August.

Ingoglia, standing in the City Hall foyer, engaged with elderly activists and said he “affectionately” refers to the task force as FAFA- a widely known acronym for “f**ck around and find out.” He also repeated a common and oft-disputed refrain: Local budgets have “exploded” by 60% to 120% since the pandemic. 

Bequer said the city assumes DOGE arrived at its $258,000 contribution to St Pete Pride by calculating the total in-kind contributions from fiscal year 2024 ($119,554) and 2025 ($138,295). The co-sponsored event’s total cost is $276,589.

In-kind contributions are non-monetary donations that can include first-responder services, providing sanitation containers or allowing the use of facilities. In 2024, City Council members approved splitting the total cost, up to $300,000 annually, for Pride events. 

Bequer said the city tracks and reviews any related expenditures, and submits an invoice to St. Pete Pride for “any amount that went over budgeted funds for in-kind contributions.” The total cost was $239,108 and $276,589 in 2024 and 2025, respectively. 

St. Pete Pride repaid the city for half of the cost, and officials used that money to reimburse the EMS and Enterprise Funds. The latter encompasses the Sanitation, Parking and Stormwater Funds.

“To be clear, any amount spent from these funds in their respective fiscal years was reimbursed by Pride and was not incurred by the city,” Bequer wrote.

DOGE also took issue with St. Petersburg’s Integrated Sustainability Action Plan. Photo by Mark Parker.

Officials also assume that the $307,000 spent on a climate action plan refers to a consultation contract from 2017. Vanasse Hangan Bristling Inc. helped develop the Integrated Sustainability Action Plan (ISAP); the total cost to complete the report was $308,000. 

However, former Mayor Rick Kriseman’s administration used $292,498 in BP settlement proceeds stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to fund the study. The remaining $14,801 came from general fund expenditures in fiscal years 2017 through 2019. 

“As you can see from above, the City of St. Petersburg values transparency and hopes that this information provides clarification on city spending,” Bequer wrote. “The city is committed to the idea of ‘Government in the Sunshine,’ and the responsible, documented use of government resources. 

“We encourage any residents who have questions about the city’s budget to review the documents posted on our website at StPete.org/Budget.” 

DOGE’s infographic also targeted the Cities of Jacksonville, Pensacola and Gainesville, along with Alachua, Orange, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Broward Counties. The task force took issue with Pinellas annually dedicating $75,000 to a Pride festival. 

Ingoglia admonished Orlando for its tree inventory initiative but did not mention St. Petersburg’s program at a press conference Wednesday. He also made jokes and recited poems about the allegedly serious financial misconduct uncovered. 

“All jokes aside, these egregious examples of wasteful spending are exactly why property taxes are rising,” Ingoglia said. “There is waste, fraud and abuse in every corner of the government. All you have to do is go and look and find it, and you will find it.” 

Gov. Ron DeSantis shared this infographic Wednesday afternoon. Image: Facebook.