06-03-2025
Hillsborough commission votes against asking for state DOGE audit
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The newly formed Florida State Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force is set to use technology and AI to help look for government waste.
It will audit colleges and universities, state agencies, along with local governments.
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On Wednesday, Hillsborough Commissioner Joshua Wostal tried to get the county to ask the Florida DOGE to audit the county sooner than later.
'Every organization has waste to identify,' Wostal said.
The Republican commissioner called for the county administrator, along with the county's internal auditor, to work with the task force to find waste.
'We had multiple decades of never truly having one forensic audit throughout our processes of budgetary solutions,' Wostal said. 'That has resulted in many transitions to technology platforms that has resulted in us quite literally finding bank accounts that we lost of forgot about just in the past two years.'
Wostal has also proposed that he be the point-of-contact, out of all commissioners, for the audit.
'If they have specific issues or concerns that might not need a board vote or more of a directional issue, they can utilize my office as the sole point of contact,' Wostal said.
Republican commission board Chairman Ken Hagan does not agree.
'Personally, I think any contact with officials should be by staff. They are the experts,' Hagan said. 'There's one point about directing the county administrator. I don't think we need to direct her to do anything.'
The two Democratic commissioners, Gwen Myers and Harry Cohen, were joined by two Republicans opposing Wostel's item. That means the motion failed in a 4 to 3 vote.
During a stop in Tampa hours after the commission meeting, Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to that vote and said local government audits will start soon, and he also wants more authority from lawmakers.
'We're asking the legislature to provide us the ability to send DOGE teams down to county and city governments,' DeSantis said.
The governor didn't give a specific date regarding when audits will start.
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