DOGE questions Manatee County's capital expenditures, additional staff

Although Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia said in an October 2025 press conference that Manatee County overspent $112.4 million during fiscal year 2024-2025, the county’s Government Efficiency Liaison Committee reported the county’s spending is “well managed and fairly efficient.” 

Jeff Covert, vice chair of the Government Efficiency Liaison Committee, delivered an update on the committee’s progress to commissioners at the March 24 meeting. 

Covert said despite the county's efficiency, there are areas where money can be saved in the future. The committee will continue to review the county’s spending analysis, interlocal agreements, purchasing consolidation, and expenditure process improvements until the committee disbands in May after its nearly year-long analysis is completed.

Neither the county or the committee, however, has been able to see an itemized report on what the Florida Department of Government Efficiency listed as wasteful spending.

In January, Manatee County — along with every municipality that was audited by DOGE — received an overall statewide report that talked about inefficiencies in spending. In that report were five pages that were specific to Manatee County.

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County staff, on behalf of the committee, sent letters to Ingoglia’s office requesting the itemized report Nov. 5 and Jan. 21, but have yet to receive a response. The East County Observer reached out to the CFO’s office and was referred to the governor’s office. 

Press Secretary Molly Best at the governor's office referred the request to the public records unit, which did not respond before publication of this article to clarify if and when another report will be delivered to Manatee County that dives deeper than the overall DOGE report that was published in January.

In October, Ingoglia only cited one line item as excessive — the growth of Manatee County’s staff by an additional 472 full-time employees over the past five years when the population grew by 61,545 residents. 

January’s report included five more line items and honed in on the county’s Information Outreach department as the main example of wasteful spending on staff. 

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There were also a few kudos within the report. 

“Manatee County leaders deserve partial credit for the millage rate cuts and operating spending growth well below ad valorem growth," the report reads. "Florida DOGE’s review of Manatee County also found that the county has done a better job than many Florida jurisdictions at eliminating previously-existing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and has taken recent steps to eliminate wasteful grant spending.” 

However, the report goes on to state that “Manatee County should act with equal care in its other spending, particularly in initiating major capital expenditures and in reviewing commitments to supposed ‘climate-related’ policies and activities that do not provide value.” 

Capital expenditures

The report doesn’t cite any specific climate-related expenditures, but three items on the list are capital expenditures. 

No. 1: $23.5 million purchase of a second administration building in Lakewood Ranch

Financially, DOGE took issue with the new building’s overall cost of $35 million, including renovations, and that the purchase followed a five-year, $6 million renovation on the original administration building downtown. 

The report also questioned the staff and commission’s handling of the purchase:

• The project was “executed outside of long-term capital and strategic planning.”
• The project did not afford residents “advance transparency.” 
• The county only provided “brief, ex-post justifications for the consideration of alternatives, notwithstanding public statements that the acquisition would be cheaper than alternatives.”
• The new administration building only satisfies “a portion” of the county’s space requirements. 

Citizens expressed many of the same views during the May 6, 2025 meeting when commissioners unanimously approved the purchase. 

Ruth Harenchar, president of the League of Women Voters of Manatee County called the lack of transparency and the absence of a comparative analysis “poor governance.” 

County Administrator Charlie Bishop said the county exercised caution to avoid bidding against itself if negotiations became public, and Commissioner George Kruse said the deal could’ve been lost if commissioners delayed signing the contract. 

Kruse also noted that discussions about moving county services to Lakewood Ranch dated back to 2018 and continued in 2020 when the county purchased land off of Lena Road with the intention of building a county complex. 

He said the existing administration building will remain full, and the new building will be “over full” once fully renovated. The building can accommodate up to 600 employees and includes space for staff training sessions and public meetings. 

Kruse cited space needs for the State Attorney’s Office and Supervisor of Elections downtown and efficiency benefits by placing Development Services, Public Works and Property Management together in Lakewood Ranch. 

Development Services moved into the building in October, but the building is not anticipated to be filled to capacity until January 2027. 

No. 2: $3 million water taxi expansion 

The DOGE report focused on the county’s purchase of the $2.6 million, 96-passenger Manatee Belle ferry, which is expected to be in operation around Easter. The report called the ferry unnecessary because the service is underused. 

Kruse used the ferry as an example of what was missing in Ingoglia’s $112.4 million figure during a Budget 101 session at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall March 11. He said the premise of DOGE is that local governments are overspending when it comes to property taxes. 

“First, you can’t get a ticket; everybody loves the water taxis,” Kruse said. “And second, 100% of the purchase of the water taxis and the operations are paid entirely by bed taxes.” 

The tourist development tax is only charged on overnight stays that don’t exceed six months. Florida statute dictates that the funds be spent on tourism-related items. 

In addition to serving as a tourist attraction, Elliott Falcione, director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, called the water taxi a mode of public transportation that took an estimated 23,000 cars off the road last year.

The service qualifies as a tourist attraction while also benefitting residents, especially when beach traffic is heavy. Falcione said the new ferry will deliver a passenger from the Bradenton Riverwalk Pier to the Anna Maria Island Historic Bridge Street Pier in 40 minutes (the pontoons take 50 minutes) versus the approximately 90 minutes it can take to travel the same distance by car during weekend traffic.

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The expanded fleet will also offer additional stops, one of which is planned for Coquina Beach. The county is waiting on a permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protections. 

DOGE and Dennis Rodriguez, the operator of the water taxi service, provided differing ridership numbers. The DOGE report states that “on its busiest days, each trip averaged just 13 passengers.” That number accounts for all of 2024 and from January to July 2025. 

Rodriguez provided more recent ridership numbers from May to December 2025, which showed the taxis at twice DOGE's reported ridership on its busiest days, which were Sundays in July. Overall ridership during that time period was 35,891 passengers. 

Falcione also disputed DOGE’s claim that the $400,000 subsidy to operate the taxis in 2024 omitted insurance, maintenance, equipment costs and additional investments in land-side infrastructure. 

Those expenses are paid for using ticket revenues, advertisements on the ferries and the tourism tax. 

“We’re not putting a nickel of ad valorem tax into the water taxi,” Falcione said. 

No. 3: $130 million long-term plans for a countywide trail system

The only additional information included in the DOGE report regarding the trail system is that Gov. Ron DeSantis “vetoed funding that included support for this project.” 

Last June, DeSantis vetoed a $1 million appropriation that would have been allocated to the Gateway Greenway Trail between Palmetto and Parrish. That one segment is estimated to cost $2.9 million. 

The 143-page trailways master plan can be found on Manatee County’s website.

Government growth

The rate at which Manatee County has grown its staff was the one major example Ingoglia used to illustrate the county’s wasteful spending during the October press conference, and the DOGE report focuses on the Information Outreach department. 

The report calls the county’s emergency communication function “meritorious,” but questions the overall growth of Information Outreach. It specifically notes seven additional positions and nearly $1 million in annual General Fund spending. 

The East County Observer compared Allocated Position Listings from August 2021 to January 2026 to find the additional positions. The listings only offer base hourly salaries, which do not include benefits. 

It should also be noted that the Information Outreach department was absorbed by the Government Relations department in April 2025. Employees were moved from other departments into Government Relations, and there are also additional communications positions that handle the Public Works and Utilities departments. 

The table only shows the original four positions and the additional seven positions. 

Instead of one employee covering video production and digital content, there are two employees covering each area and one additional content specialist. 

Communications and creative services positions were added to the roster. And Casey Zempel was promoted from video production to division manager, earning more than twice his salary from five years ago.

Commissioner Bob McCann called Information Outreach a "propaganda department."

"They write about all the good things," he said, "But the complaints, you don't hear about."