HOLMES BEACH – Anna Maria Island cities could be affected by the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force that Gov. Ron DeSantis created by executive order on Feb. 24.
A press release issued by the governor’s office said the task force, patterned after the federal government department, will “eliminate redundant boards and commissions, review state university and college operations and spending, utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to further examine state agencies to uncover hidden waste and even audit the spending habits of local entities to shine the light on waste and bloat.”
Kalel is a government affairs consultant for the Sunrise Consulting Group and serves as the city of Holmes Beach’s contracted state lobbyist. In a Feb. 24 email to Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, he wrote, “The governor has created Florida DOGE via executive order. The new Florida DOGE Team shall use ‘publicly available information to identify and report unnecessary spending within county and municipal governments’ and recommend legislative reforms to promote efficiency, maximize productivity and eliminate waste in state and local government.”
Section 1 of Executive Order 25-44 alludes to consolidation, specifying that the DOGE team shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the executive order and identifying, reporting and recommending “administrative or legislative reforms to promote efficiency, maximize productivity and eliminate waste in state and local government, including recommendations to leverage modern technology and to eliminate the duplication of services, reduce fees and cut overhead.”
“I seriously hope that the governor allows the city’s elected officials, who have the boots on the ground, to know what is best as they provide public health, safety, and, most importantly, quality of life for their citizens,” Titsworth told The Sun.
What to expect
Kalel’s email included a bullet-pointed summary of some of the anticipated DOGE actions and the potential implications for the city of Holmes Beach and other Anna Maria Island and Florida cities:
- “He’s created a new DOGE Task Force modeled after federal efforts to reduce government waste.
- “He will eliminate over 70 state boards and commissions deemed redundant or ineffective.
- “A push to further reduce spending, despite population growth and inflation.
- “A continued focus on tax relief, including the elimination of Florida’s unique tax on business rent.
- “Efforts to use artificial intelligence for auditing state contracts and eliminating ideological spending.”
Kalel’s email also listed potential actions aimed specifically at local governments.
Local government spending:
- “The governor stated that while Florida’s state government has reduced spending, many local governments have increased their budgets and imposed higher property taxes.
- “Homeowners are overburdened due to rising property tax assessments, particularly affecting seniors on fixed incomes. He suggested Florida could shift more tax burden to visitors and seasonal residents rather than relying on permanent homeowners.”
Local government audits:
- “DOGE task force will review county and municipal spending using publicly available records.
- “The governor is requesting legislative power for the task force to enforce audits at the local level.”
Regarding legislative action to improve local government transparency, Kalel wrote:
- He (DeSantis) is pushing for laws that would force local governments to comply with audits by the state’s efficiency task force.
- The task force would also use AI technology to detect wasteful spending.
Regarding local government spending on diversity, equity and inclusion and other programs, Kalel wrote:
- The governor noted that at the state level, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs have been eliminated, but suggested local governments may still be funding similar initiatives under different names.
- “He emphasized that AI auditing tools will be used to flag contracts that continue DEI-related spending under new labels.”
Regarding infrastructure and local services, Kalel wrote:
“The state has been accelerating infrastructure projects to keep up with population growth and tourism and he suggested that local governments need to be more efficient in their own infrastructure spending.”
DeSantis’ Feb. 24 press conference can be viewed at www. TheFloridaChannel.org.
