Orange County’s top elections official lost a bid last week to speed up court proceedings to determine whether Orange County officials must release a December funding allocation to the elections supervisor amid a dispute over spending.
Elections Supervisor Glen Gilzean filed the lawsuit on Dec. 5 in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court in order to compel county Comptroller Phil Diamond and the Board of Commissioners to turn over nearly $1 million to keep Gilzean’s department funded. The elections supervisor is scheduled to leave office on Jan. 6.
Judge Luis Calderon later decided Gilzean had laid out a “facially sufficient claim” for the court to issue a writ ordering county officials to turn over the funds.
“(The) petitioner alleges a clear legal right to the disbursement of the funds allocated for disbursement in December, that (the) respondent has an indisputable legal duty to disburse those funds and that there is no adequate remedy at law,” Calderon said.
But on Dec. 18, Calderon declined to approve Gilzean’s request that county officials be ordered to file their response to the court’s directive on an expedited basis, even considering the petitioner’s urgency to pay vendors and employee benefits.
“This court is afforded the discretion to shorten the time periods under appropriate circumstances, and having considered the arguments and the evidence presented at the Dec 18, 2024, hearing, finds that a shortened time for response, as suggested by (the) plaintiff, would not give respondents a reasonable opportunity to respond to the petition.
The action means that a resolution to the legal dispute likely won’t occur until after Gilzean leaves office.
County officials have been reluctant to allocate additional funding to Gilean in light of criticism of the elections supervisor’s recent spending. In a Dec. 16 report, Diamond noted that the Board of Commissioners provided Gilean with nearly $9.6 million during October and November – amounting to about half of the supervisor of elections’ fiscal 2025 budget
Based on Florida law, another allocation to the elections supervisor would not be required by law until February, according to the comptroller’s report. Diamond also concluded that Gilean violated state law by making a $1.1 million payment to the Central Florida Foundation that was not itemized, that he wrote checks exceeding account balances and misstated his department’s financial position in 2024.
Gilean’s financial record in the final three months of the year was marked by overspending, according to Diamond’s report.
“We obtained bank statements and check registers from the Supervisor’s Office for October, November and December – through Dec. 12,” the report states. “According to these check registers, the Supervisor’s Office spent more than allowed by statute in each of these three months. The total amount overspent was $5,068,616.”
Gilean, however, characterized the dispute as “rooted in political gamesmanship” and an effort by commissioners to mislead the public. He expressed satisfaction that elected officials did move to provide funds to meet payroll for the office’s employees so they could enjoy the holidays.
"Unfortunately, we were put in this position due to a series of lies and a fundamental misunderstanding of the elections process by the mayor and the comptroller,” Gilean said in a statement provided to the Florida Record. “... We will continue to fight for the integrity of our office and for the truth to come to light."
He also called allegations by the comptroller irrelevant. The large, 50% funding allocation was authorized by commissioners on Sept. 10 and was required to meet “the demands of the largest election in Orange County history,” the office said in a statement. In addition, the $1.1 million payment to the Florida nonprofit group was lawful and required for voter education and early voting efforts, according to Gilean’s office.
The only reason the supervisor of election’s checks exceeded its checking account balance was due to what Gilean said was the illegal withholding of funds by the comptroller, the elections office said in a statement.