The property tax bill — amounting to roughly $51,000 — concerns a 1.7-acre property on West Kaley Street that Orange County is set to re-inherit from the foundation, which quietly dissolved itself on Dec. 31, 2023, following a string of controversies.
The property was purchased by the nonprofit OnePulse Foundation for the construction of a Pulse museum and memorial, which was meant to honor the victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, which killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 survivors.
That parcel of land for the museum was purchased by OnePulse using $3.5 million in funds it received through a contractual agreement with the county.
In November, the county accused the nonprofit of a breach of contract, and when the organization decided to dissolve shortly after, it also moved to revert ownership of the West Kaley Street property back to the county.
Then, earlier this month, another issue was identified. In a memo sent to the board of county commissioners, the mayor’s chief of staff informed local leaders that, as part of the process to terminate the county’s agreement with OnePulse and re-inherit the property, the county discovered that OnePulse had left unpaid property taxes.
“The Foundation has indicated they do not have the funds to pay the property taxes and, therefore, do not intend to do so,” wrote chief of staff Roseann Harrington in a memo dated March 15.
“Staff have researched the property taxes and have determined that, if not paid, the taxes will become delinquent on April1, 2024, penalties will be assessed, and a tax warrant will be issued for the Property,” Harrington continued.
She further added that the county’s comptroller’s office was prepared to pay the unpaid property tax bill, due March 31, to avoid further complications down the road.
The move to cover the bill required approval from the board of commissioners, who — despite expressing grievances with the situation after — unanimously approved the decision as an item on their consent agenda Tuesday.
“We’re going to pay the taxes because we don't want to end up in a situation where there's a tax deed sale, or any of that, that could further complicate the ownership issues and our ability to recover what we can,” said Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings.
Covering the bill at this point, he said, was in the financial interest of the county and taxpayers, "so that we don't have further calamity from this set of circumstances."
Jorshua Hernandez, a Pulse survivor who suffered multiple gunshot wounds the night of the shooting, shared disappointment with the new development.
“The OnePulse foundation took advantage of us, the victims and survivors of the shooting, and now they are taking full advantage of Orange County taxpayers,” Hernandez told Orlando Weekly in an emailed statement.
“None of this should be allowed while they [OnePulse executives] were paid six-figure salaries to misrepresent their financial position to the public for donations,” he added.
Hernandez is involved with a group of survivors who have for years vocally opposed onePulse’s proposed museum project, arguing that it would privatize a public tragedy and ultimately serve as a way for OnePulse to profit off their pain.
The nonprofit was founded by former club owner Barbara Poma less than a month after the shooting, and received criticism over the years for, among other things, paying several executives six-figure salaries at certain points, while survivors said they continued to struggle with treatment bills for the injuries and psychological trauma incurred as a result of the mass shooting.
As the Orlando Sentinel reported earlier this month, the nonprofit was for years mismanaged under leadership completely out of their depth, despite seemingly good intentions from some of those involved in the nonprofit’s work.
OnePulse raised millions of dollars over the years, mostly under the umbrella of eventually constructing a permanent Pulse memorial, but also for a scholarship program.
But as contributions dwindled, the nonprofit failed to take corrective action or to communicate its troubles in meeting project milestones and expectations. It spent nearly $700,000 in grant money received by the state just to cover executives' salaries.
Several county commissioners on Tuesday, like Hernandez, expressed their disappointment with the situation and questioned whether they could take any additional action against OnePulse, which (following its dissolution) no longer has any staff.
“There just seems to be no accountability,” noted county commissioner Mayra Uribe of District 3, who asked the county comptroller if they’d ever received any actual records from OnePulse detailing the funds they have left.
County comptroller Phil Diamond confirmed they’d requested records from OnePulse on their expenditure of funds they’d received from the county — about $3.5 million for the purchase of the West Kaley Street property and $3 million in unrecoverable funds for museum design services.
Diamond said they also requested the nonprofit’s bank statements — and have received neither.
Mayor Demings, while avoiding specifics, vaguely confirmed the county is looking into its legal options. “From a legal perspective, we are pursuing every lawful means to recover whatever we can, including records,” he said.
Uribe also brought up Orlando’s annual CommUnity Rainbow Run, which has historically been organized to benefit the OnePulse Foundation.
This year’s event is being organized by the city of Orlando, which purchased the former Pulse nightclub site from onePulse last year and has taken over the project of creating a memorial.
“Who are they raising money for — to pay us back?” Uribe questioned. “To help the families?”
Demings admitted he didn’t have an answer to that. The city is organizing the run this year in partnership with the UCF DeVos Sport Business Management Program. The city shared in December that the event is intended to “allow the community to come together to honor the 49 angels every year.”
The group of survivors and advocates that Hernandez stands with — Pulse Victims and Survivors for Justice — blasted the event in a recent letter to Orlando Weekly as “distasteful,” “insensitive” and “wasteful due to the squandering of resources required to fund this charade.”
Commissioner Emily Bonilla of District 5, returning to the roots of the nonprofit's unpaid tax bill, also questioned whether the county had any sort of oversight mechanism to ensure nonprofits are complying with property tax requirements.
She pointed out that, under certain circumstances, nonprofits are exempted from paying property taxes, but in other cases, they’re not.
“Perhaps in the future, we could have a broader discussion, a more in-depth discussion on how we could provide more oversight and know what is going on with agencies and organizations that we're giving money to, and that they're really upholding the contract that we entered in with them,” she suggested.
Her suggestion was met with reluctance by Demings, who defended their process.
“We probably have more oversight than perhaps any other county in Florida,” he argued, adding that the county's comptroller is still looking into whether the nonprofit met their contractual requirements under the agreement they entered into with the county in 2018.
Pulse Victims and Survivors for Justice have called for a local or state agency to conduct a forensic audit of OnePulse and to collect their bank statements and meeting minutes.
“This step is crucial so that legitimate questions can be answered,” the group shared with Orlando Weekly.
Mayor Demings said the county doesn’t plan to let OnePulse off the hook for failing to produce the records they’ve requested, pointing out that OnePulse is required to retain records for a period of time under state law and Internal Revenue requirements.
“We are trying to make certain that we just don't take the excuse that they don't have anybody to actually pull [the records],” said Demings. “So we will explore that, so that we can memorialize whatever records going forward that can be of assistance to the comptroller and whatever audit that he will do to respond to some of the requests made by our board.”
Darelis Torres, a survivor of the Pulse tragedy, renewed her call for accountability in an emailed statement to Orlando Weekly following the board's vote Tuesday.
"The Foundation's executives marketed, promised and lied a memorial to us for nearly eight years,” said Torres. “They maintained this high-profile status through our tears, sweat and blood. Through our loved ones passing. Accountability needs to happen one way or the other. Enough is enough.”
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