Conflict intensifies between Orange supervisor of elections, county

Orange County Supervisor of Elections Glen Gilzean said the county’s action of withholding funds from his office not only is illegal but also threatens the office’s ability to pay staff, partners and vendors.

“Phil Diamond made poor assumptions and misled county commissioners into taking a misguided vote to suspend this office’s funding,” Gilzean said in a prepared statement. “These actions will result in staff, municipal partners, and vendors not being paid promptly. We have provided the comptroller with every document he has requested and hope he takes immediate action to reverse course.”

However, in his own statement, Diamond said his office discovered Gilzean wrote 224 checks totaling almost $4.3 million over the weekend — essentially draining the bank account. 

“He paid these checks while knowing full well that he is required to meet his employees approximately $250,000 payroll this week,” Diamond said. “Sadly, he irresponsibly chose not to prioritize his employees.

“Unfortunately, he also recently chose to give over $1.1 million in un-budgeted funds to another nonprofit,” he said. “Under the law, he was only entitled to receive 38.64% of his budget. However, he has received 50%. The records he gave us show that he has spent nearly the entire 50%. This spending rate greatly exceeds the limit he is allowed to spend by Florida law.” 

Gilzean said that $4.3 million is not accurate. 

“The comptroller was operating with a failed understanding of the Supervisor’s Office’s other liabilities, including outstanding invoices for election services, security services provided by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, and additional early-voting sites,” he said.  A significant portion of these bills arrived in our office following the November General Election and have been processed, totaling more than $4.5 million.”  

Moreover, the supervisor’s budget consists of three buckets, including personnel, capital outlay and operations, he said. According to Florida Statutes, the supervisor’s office does not have the authority to move money between object codes after Oct. 1. 

“To meet payroll between now and Jan. 6, the supervisor’s office requires approximately $630,566.30,” Gilzean said. “Simply put, the supervisor’s office will not have the necessary funds to make payroll due to the comptroller’s recommendation to withhold funds.  

“The comptroller is knowingly misleading the public,” he said. “Our office can either make payroll or pay vendors, but not both. To make matters worse, the comptroller knows I do not have the authority to move money into that account. Those are the rules; that is the law. Unless the comptroller wants me to knowingly break the law, there is no way for this office to make payroll through my last week in office.”