WESH moderates Orange County mayoral debate at Tiger Bay Club
ORLANDO, Fla. —
With the primary election less than three weeks away, candidate sparring in the race for Orange County mayor is getting sharper and accusations are flying faster.
WESH 2 News anchor Nancy Alvarez and investigative reporter Greg Fox were invited to moderate a debate between the four contenders Friday at the Tiger Bay Club. The event was sponsored by the Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association and BusinessForce.
Near the start, former congresswoman Stephanie Murphy criticized Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe for voting for a nearly 25 % pay raise for commissioners.
Murphy added, “I’ll commit to not accepting a pay raise as mayor.”
Uribe responded by alleging Murphy did not accurately report her income on her financial disclosure form, saying, “You make a million dollars a year at Full Sail.”
Murphy shot back, “That is incorrect! You are misrepresenting where I have my income.”
Later, Orange County Clerk of Courts and former commissioner Tiffany Moore Russell called Uribe’s plan to reorganize the construction permitting rules in her first few months in office “unrealistic.”
Uribe said, “In my plan, in the first 100 days, it will be the first thing we do.” Russell responded, “I don’t know anyone who can change the organization of Orange County in 100 days.”
The three were joined by businessman Christopher Messina, with all tackling a range of topics: affordable housing, tourist development taxes, and the statewide property tax amendment that could drain revenues from city and county governments. Messina is the only one of the four voting for it, saying, “How many of you have not had to tighten your budgets? We have a lot of waste and fraud in county government.”
The others weighed in as well, with Russell saying, “We have to look for ways of finding efficiencies, look for ways of innovation, and leveraging technology to provide services for our citizens, so we don’t have to ask for a property tax increase.”
From Murphy, “Whether we decide to move in that direction or not, what happens around us in this state will impact affordability in this community and that’s why I’m voting no.”
And from Uribe, “I will be voting no because really, ladies and gentlemen, it’s excessive. 26% of our houses are homesteaded. You’re looking at a reduction of $165 million year one, $275 million year two.”
Already 19,000 Orange County voters have cast ballots by returning them via vote-by-mail, and with early voting beginning Monday, the mayoral race is in the home stretch.
WESH 2 News hosted the first Orange County mayoral debate, which you can view now at the link below:
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote Aug. 18, the top two finishers will square off in November.