Elections office spent 22% of its annual budget in one day, bank records reveal

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Comptroller Phil Diamond showed up to the elections office Monday with one question that he wanted answered.

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“We’d like to know why it is that the supervisor had over $4 million just a few days ago, and yet has claimed that he’s not able to pay his bills,” Diamond proclaimed to the WFTV camera waiting in the parking lot.

The comptroller’s plan was to meet with Glen Gilzean, the embattled supervisor of elections embroiled in a spending controversy for the past month, to go over Gilzean’s office’s bank statements behind closed doors.

Read: Gilzean sues Orange County after vote to withhold funds

Gilzean, with a big smile on his face, derailed those plans before Diamond could even walk inside.

“We’re going to stay right here in public so that way everyone can hear exactly what you have to say,” he proclaimed.

For 17 minutes, Diamond and Gilzean exchanged an awkward back-and-forth, speaking half to each other and half to the camera that was invited to follow them inside the elections office lobby.

“He’s giving you false math,” Gilzean said. “It’s unfortunate that he’s actually our comptroller and giving information that’s not accurate.”

The meeting turned, however, when Diamond’s auditor revealed the $4.3 million Gilzean had was spent across 224 checks Gilzean’s office wrote over the weekend.

Read: ‘Significant peril:’ Elections supervisor warns of cash crunch despite millions in bank

That money amounted to 22% of the office’s annual budget – and left the office unable to make payroll without an additional infusion of cash from Orange County, which was halted by commissioners last week pending Diamond’s investigation.

Gilzean said the checks paid vendors that supplied services for the November election, called the withholding of the $950,000 December payment illegal and called Diamond’s inquiry a “witch hunt.” He referred some of Diamond’s questions to his office’s attorney.

“We had a flawless election because of our vendors, and now for them not to get compensated in the middle of this holiday season is unthinkable,” Gilzean said.

Read: Elections office greets auditors with ‘day-old’ doughnuts and lawsuit threats

It’s not clear which vendors were paid, or how much. Diamond said his office’s next step was to go through the checks and figure out if anything about them was legally or financially questionable. He said that Gilzean’s office has already received more money than state law required by this point in the fiscal year and the county wasn’t obligated to pay out any more this month.

Reached by phone, other elections supervisors reacted with disbelief at the spending amount. One, speaking on condition of anonymity to not draw the wrath of Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the November election cost their office 5% of their current annual budget. Other expenses were paid before the fiscal year began on Oct. 1.

Read: Elections staff terminated in wake of spending scandal

As an outgoing supervisor, Gilzean is also bound by spending limits established in state law, which cap his spending at 1/12 of his annual budget per month.

Diamond brought up the $1.1 million payment Gilzean made to a nonprofit to set up voter outreach grants.

“I think before spending money on things like that, he ought to pay his employees first,” Diamond said.

Read: Gilzean overstepped authority when moving money around, attorneys say

In a statement released Monday afternoon, Gilzean complained about a third request Diamond had given his office after the comptroller left the property, due by end of business that day.

“While our office has been working to fulfill each new request, the staff, municipalities, and vendors waiting to be paid as a result of the 2024 General Election do so in significant uncertainty thanks in no small part to the Comptroller’s misleading statements to the county commission freezing our finances,” Gilzean said. “Now, the question before Phil is this, will he follow the law and release the money our office needs?”

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