Orange County Elections Supervisor Glen Gilzean has taken legal action against the county after commissioners voted on Tuesday to withhold a portion of funds from his office based on concerns regarding its financial management. Following the vote to defer the monthly allocation the office would normally receive, Gilzean filed a lawsuit claiming that this decision violated state law.
Gilzean's office was under scrutiny after it was discovered that, without gaining county permission, $2.1 million had been allocated to scholarship opportunities for students pursuing cybersecurity programs at Jones and Evans High Schools, as reported by WFTV. The scholarship program is intended to encourage youth civic engagement, complementing earlier allocations of $1.9 million to CareerSource for job training grants, including voter outreach, and $1.1 million for various nonprofits focused on voter outreach efforts.
The county commissioners and Comptroller Phil Diamond raised concerns after a confidential informant reported a questionable $1.1 million payment for a grant program, details of which were not disclosed to the public. The lawsuit from Gilzean came as the commissioners questioned the deployment of around $5 million from taxpayer-funded budgets, as detailed by a ClickOrlando report.
This string of financial decisions made by Gilzean led to heightened scrutiny. Even though CareerSource has returned the $1.9 million previously allocated to them, the comptroller's office is still conducting a comprehensive annual audit. Amid the financial tug-of-war, Gilzean warned of "significant peril" for his office should the additional funds be withheld, saying that without them, paying invoices from the November election could be jeopardized, WFTV reported.
Gilzean's lawsuit asks the court to enforce the release of approximately $950,000 slated for December and subsequent funds for the rest of the fiscal year. "Withholding almost $1 million from the office will mean staff and vendors may not be paid and damage the office heading into a pivotal transition and set of municipal elections," Gilzean said in a statement detailed by ClickOrlando. Despite the county's contention that it was legally appropriate to withhold the funds, Gilzean insists that as a constitutional officer, he has autonomy over how the budget within each category is spent.
