The Numbers Don’t Lie: Wakulla’s Spending Problem Comes Straight From State and County Records

Wakulla County's Spending Reality: Why General Government Outpaces Law Enforcement – And Why the Numbers Are Undeniable

Wakulla County is one of only five Florida counties where general government spending exceeds law enforcement spending. Even more striking, we're the number one outlier statewide, with general government accounting for more than 35% of our total expenditures.

This isn't opinion or exaggeration, it's drawn directly from publicly available, audited, and state-compiled data. Some might push back with excuses about loans, debt, or "misunderstandings of accounting." But the facts hold up under scrutiny. Here's the full, verifiable case so every resident can see it for themselves and hold our elected officials accountable.

The Source: Florida Association of Counties (FAC) Property Tax Report – August 2025 Edition

The primary document is the Florida Association of Counties' "Florida County Property Tax Report" (published August 2025, using FY 2024 data). This 224-page report compiles audited financials from all 67 counties, focusing on how property taxes fund services.

Full report (all counties):
https://www.fl-counties.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Florida-County-Property-Tax-Report-All-Counties.pdf

(Alternative mirror or version):
https://www.fl-counties.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Florida-County-Property-Tax-Report-2-1.pdf

FAC draws from data submitted by counties to the Florida Department of Financial Services (DFS), standardized by the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) which is the nonpartisan arm of the Florida Legislature. The report excludes custodial funds (pass-through money like taxes collected for schools or other entities) to enable fair, apples-to-apples comparisons of actual county operations.

Table 7 ("2024 County Expenditures") shows Wakulla's functional spending categories. General Government (administrative, executive, legislative, planning, etc.) exceeds Public Safety (dominated by sheriff/law enforcement). General Government exceeds 35% of the adjusted total—ranking Wakulla #1 statewide in this metric.

Note: The FAC report doesn't explicitly label Wakulla as "#1" or list the "five counties"—that ranking comes from cross-referencing the source data across all counties (more on how below).

Step-by-Step: How We Arrived at These Numbers

Start with Wakulla's Own Audited Financials

The root source is Wakulla County's FY 2024 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) and related filings, audited and submitted to the Florida Auditor General.

Wakulla County FY 2024 financial statements (from Auditor General site):
https://flauditor.gov/pages/county_efile%20rpts/2024%20wakulla%20county.pdf

Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) summary:
https://wakullaclerk.org/Documents/Comptroller/County%20Financial%20Reports/FY2024%20PAFR%20-%20Final%20for%20Remediation.remediated.pdf?t=202510071443180

These show total expenditures around $196 million (gross, including custodial), but the adjusted operating figures (post-exclusions) align with FAC/EDR.

EDR's Detailed Breakdown

EDR compiles county revenues/expenditures by account code, using the same audited data.

Wakulla County profile (includes revenues/expenditures):
https://edr.state.fl.us/content/area-profiles/county/wakulla.pdf

General county expenditures data portal:
https://edr.state.fl.us/Content/local-government/data/revenues-expenditures/cntyfiscal.cfm

In the detailed account-code view (which matches what we've referenced), General Government totals $82 million (pre-adjustments), Public Safety $28 million. After custodial exclusions (as FAC does), the proportions hold: General Government dominates.

Cross-Checking the Outlier Status

To confirm Wakulla as #1 (and one of five where general government > law enforcement), compare Table 7 across all counties in the FAC report. Download the PDF, go to page ~20 (Table 7), and sort/filter the General Government vs. Public Safety columns.

Wakulla stands out—general government share >35%, exceeding public safety.
Only four other counties show similar inversion (you can verify by scanning the 67 entries). This isn't FAC's label; it's what the data reveals when analyzed.

Population for Per Capita Context

EDR used 37,313 for FY 2024 per capita calculations (aligning with U.S. Census July 1, 2024 estimate of 37,115).

EDR Wakulla profile confirms:
https://edr.state.fl.us/content/area-profiles/county/wakulla.pdf

Full Transparency: The Minor Physical Environment Discrepancy

For complete honesty, there's a small difference in one category between sources: Physical Environment (includes sewer/wastewater, solid waste, conservation, and potentially stormwater/mosquito control).

The detailed EDR/account-code breakdown (your initial spreadsheet) shows $9.14 million (primarily sewer/wastewater at $5.86M, solid waste $2.86M, plus minor conservation/water/garbage lines).
FAC Table 7 reports $9.64 million—a $503K difference.

This gap is tiny (0.25% of total expenditures) and doesn't change any conclusions.

From Wakulla's official CAFR:
Government-wide Physical Environment expenses total $8.24 million (mostly business-type sewer/solid waste at $7.8M, governmental $415K).

The higher FAC/EDR figures likely include fund-level capital outlay, minor additions like mosquito control ($32K from grants in nonmajor funds), or stormwater/flood mitigation tied to grants (not broken out separately in the CAFR but possible in functional groupings).

Differences arise from accrual basis (government-wide nets some items) vs. modified accrual (fund-level/EDR/FAC includes more outflows for comparability).
No material impact, General Government still dwarfs Public Safety, and the >35% outlier status holds firm.

Why Loans/Debt Don't Change the Picture

If the county responds with "loans weren't accounted for" or debt service adjustments:

• Borrowing (e.g., bonds for infrastructure) provides funds, recorded as other financing sources.

• Repayments (principal + interest) are expenditures in the audited statements—often in "Other Uses" or allocated to functions like Physical Environment (sewer projects).

• FAC/EDR include debt service in totals.

• Borrowing enables spending; it doesn't hide or reduce it.

If you finance a car, you still spent the money—the loan payments are real outflows.

These are GASB-compliant, audited numbers.
Dismissing them questions the county's own finance team and external auditors.

Why This Matters to Every Wakulla Citizen

Wakulla is growing fast (population up 10% since 2020, now 37,000+). Yet administrative overhead outpaces core services like law enforcement—the very things residents expect from property taxes.

Grants help (e.g., septic-to-sewer projects), but the pattern raises questions:

Is bureaucracy growing faster than safety and infrastructure needs?

This isn't an attack—it's transparency. These reports are public tools for accountability.

WE ENCOURAGE every resident to:

• Download the FAC report and check Table 7 for Wakulla.

• Visit EDR's site and pull Wakulla's profile.

• Review the county's own CAFR on the Auditor General or Clerk's site.

• Attend BOCC meetings and ask: Why this imbalance? What steps will correct it?

Links above are live and direct—follow the trail yourself.

Our county deserves honest, data-driven leadership.

Stay sharp, Wakulla!

Source: https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiZTZmZGI0YmYtZjc3YS00ZTBjLTllMzktMzA0ZWIzNThlZTM1IiwidCI6IjA1MDViYmUzLTk3MjYtNDUxYi04ZjZmLWM3YTcyOWVhZTQ3MCJ9