Commissioner Ryan Amsler brought a proposal to form the Hernando County Delegation on Government Efficiency in the spirit of the Department of Government Efficiency recently formed in Washington DC, DOGE. However, members of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) had some issues with the proposed Hernando County edition.
Amsler will revise several sections of the proposal following recommendations from the Commissioners.
Amsler seeks to regain public trust by opening the County’s ledgers to independent review. “The reason that the (one-cent) sales tax didn’t pass … is because Americans in Hernando County do not trust us to spend the money wisely enough, or they would have told us ‘Go ahead and take my money.’”
The original goal of Hernando DOGE was to identify cost savings of at least 5 percent or $49,900,000. Commissioner John Allocco cautioned against cutting the levels of services and creating bigger problems. “I want to make sure that if we’re doing this, we’re being truly transparent that our goal is to make Hernando County operate as efficiently as possible, taxes are as low as possible, but we still provide a level of service that’s expected in the community.”
All Commissioners are in agreement that the budget should be reviewed independently for ways to save money but begin without a predetermined savings goal.
At the February 25 meeting, Commissioner Brian Hawkins first took aim at the price tag. “You had me at DOGE. You lost me at paying for DOGE.” Hawkins balked at the $250,000 cost over the next year and a half, which would pay DOGE members $200 per meeting and allocate $25,000 per quarter for meeting location, legal counsel and administrative support.
Commissioners Allocco, Steve Champion and Jerry Campbell agree with Hawkins. Amsler will define the board as voluntary.
Amsler’s proposed board consisted of 18 members, three appointed by each Commissioner and three appointed by the entire BOCC. Three to five members must be former or current elected officials of the City of Brooksville. Five alternates would also be appointed.
No constitutional officers, County Commissioners, School Board Members, State elected officials or County employees may serve on DOGE. The structure of the board will increase to 20 or 30 members, and the BOCC will continue discussing whether or not the board will be a simple committee or be bound by Florida’s Sunshine Law.
Hawkins also doubts the $49.9 million savings goal is unattainable. “When I look at our deficit, we don’t have one. Our debt right now is less than 3 percent of the overall budget … That’s where the Federal Government gets itself in trouble, is overspending and printing money and energizing ridiculous pet projects.”
Hawkins added that county governments are included in Governor Ron DeSantis’ executive order forming the Florida State Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE) task force on February 24. The order states in part, “… will look into local government expenditures by utilizing publicly available county and municipal spending records to expose bloat within local governance.”
Learn more about Florida’s DOGE:
https://www.flgov.com/eog/news/press/2025/governor-ron-desantis-announces-florida-doge-efforts
Allocco agreed the county-wide DOGE may duplicate the Governor’s order and recommended the BOCC learn more about it before committing to a County Ordinance.
The discussions will continue in further meetings.
