County Clerks and Elections Supervisors could appeal county budget decisions under bill

Sen. Clay Yarborough said his bill is "about accountability and ensuring our laws are just." Image via Florida Senate.

A Senate panel backed a bill to give County Clerks and Elections Supervisors a path to appeal budget disputes with the state if they are fighting a Board of County Commissioners over money.

If that happens, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Executive Office would hold a budget hearing on the appeals and then recommend the appeals to the administration commission, which would issue the final ruling.

SB 1260 cleared the Senate Community Affairs Committee with an 8-0 vote before it heads to the Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Fiscal Policy Committee.

Some Democrats asked questions during the debate before voting in favor of it.

Sen. Shevrin Jones asked bill sponsor Sen. Clay Yarborough if clerks and elections supervisors would now be allowed to “go over the heads of the county commissioners when it comes to the budget?”

Yarborough argued no and said they would follow the same process as County Sheriffs currently use for their budget appeals.

“It’s really an additional avenue of appeal, if you will. And it doesn’t mean it automatically gets adopted,” Yarborough said. “It allows for an additional hearing.”

Sen. Barbara Sharief said the bill could make the laborious local budgeting process even harder for counties.

“It would make it a little bit more difficult for the counties to get through their budget process, be able to collaborate and actually figure out whether or not they can actually fund what the constitutional (officer) is asking for,” Sharief said. “It’s going to apply an additional pressure on the county as it’s going through that budgeting process.”

In Orange County last year, the DeSantis-appointed Elections Supervisor, Glen Gilzean, fought with County Commissioners over his budget. He spent millions on non-election-related matters, which surprised the county board, which voted to stop making budget payments to Gilzean’s office in his last weeks on the job before his term ended. Gilzean sued, saying that he had control over making decisions as a constitutional officer. The lawsuit ran out of time and was later dismissed.

Yarborough did not respond to a question late Monday about whether his bill was in response to Orange County’s fight.