Amid rumors of governor bid, Jerry Demings strikes back over CFO’s claims

Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings^[1] said he is not officially running for governor — at least not yet — as he accused the state of political attacks and “fuzzy math” in the escalating fight with Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia^[2] over the DOGE audit.

An angry Demings said Ingoglia “ought to get his own house in order first before he starts looking in someone else’s house.”

Demings spoke to reporters Monday after Ingoglia said Orange County has overtaxed residents by nearly $200 million in the past five years.

“If your locals will not look out for your tax dollars, I will,” Ingoglia said at a press conference^[3].

That led to Demings to issue a strong rebuke, holding his own press conference to defend the county’s budget and argue the CFO’s numbers are wrong.

The CFO said Orange County’s general fund has skyrocketed $559 million in five years, nearly a 54% increase. 

Demings argued the actual increase was $474 million.

“In other words, he used some fuzzy math,” Demings said as he argued inflation and Orlando being the No. 1 tourism destination in North America played a role in the rising budget. Not only did 125,000 residents move to Orange County in the last half decade, but Orlando’s 75 million tourists^[4] also take a toll on the government’s infrastructure, Demings said.

“In addition to our permanent resident population, we must provide services for an additional 206,000 people each day within our community. There is no other local government in Florida with that type of impact on services,” Demings said.

In the latest war over words, Demings also said most counties in Florida actually levy more in operating taxes than Orange. Orange County only ranked 49th out of 67 counties, the county government said.

Demings, a former Orange County Sheriff, also said the county provides competitive pay for its law enforcement officers and firefighters, which impacts the budget. He chided the state for what he said were low prison guard and state trooper wages which led to his remarks about Ingoglia getting his house order.

Orange County has been in Ingoglia’s crosshairs following the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) audit inspired by Elon Musk’s influence in the national government.

The CFO alleged that county employees were hiding^[5] DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives during last month’s DOGE audit. Demings denied^[6] senior leadership asked anyone to cover up the DEI grants.

Ingoglia’s next attack was to issue subpoenas for 16 county employees^[7].

“If the state really cared about us here at the local level, they would sit down and talk to us like decent folk would do rather than issue subpoenas,” Demings said Monday. “They could have just simply come and had a conversation with us. No, they wanted to be heavy-handed. They wanted to perform.”

Demings also attacked the state for “worrying about the color in a crosswalk^[8]” more than helping Floridians deal with affordable housing, homelessness or property insurance.

“The residents of the state of Florida are sick and tired of it,” Demings said. “They’re sick and tired of those bureaucrats in Tallahassee dividing us, dividing us along political lines. The rhetoric that you heard today is simply a lie. It has little to do with Orange County and Orange County government and whether we are working efficiently.”

If it sounded at times like a stump speech for higher office, the term-limited Demings said he would make a bigger announcement to tell the public if he was running for governor^[9].

“I’m not saying that I’m not going to run for governor,” Demings added quickly when a reporter asked about his plans. “Given these things that’s been happening, I just might do that.”

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