Rail suit

At 3:20 p.m., he'd filed the lawsuit. Less than an hour later, Matthew Falconer was speaking on the steps of the Orange County Courthouse as a torrent of rain poured down just a few feet away.

"I'm suing Orange County," he said to a gathered half dozen reporters, standing in front of a row of SunRail protestors. "We don't anticipate losing."

Falconer is running as a candidate for mayor of Orange County, and he'd just filed suit against the county he hopes to lead.

He said that the agreement the county had signed in partnering with the state and the organizers of the SunRail system was illegal, and he planned to stop it.

"This will save the taxpayers billions and billions of dollars," Falconer said.

Earlier he had listed Winter Park City Commissioner Beth Dillaha as a reference in the suit.

She had spearheaded a city effort to amend an interlocal agreement between Winter Park and the county that she'd deemed too risky.

"What we have now is an agreement that goes on forever with no end date, but with change after change after change," Dillaha said.

Falconer agreed about Sunrail being a financial risk. "Sunrail is a 99-year commitment," he said. "SunRail is a pair of handcuffs on the taxpayers of Central Florida."

But that doesn't mean all of the Winter Park City Commission is for the suit. Though he declined to comment on the legality or merit of Falconer's suit, Winter Park Mayor Ken Bradley didn't support it.

"That's for the courts to decide," Bradley said.

At the courthouse press conference, questions were raised as to whether Falconer's suit was a publicity stunt, considering his ongoing campaign to run for county mayor.

Bradley would not call the suit a publicity stunt, though he did question its timing.

"The timing is highly suspect," Bradley said.

The suit came on the eve of county budget talks that would have to find a way to eliminate a $71 million 2011 general fund deficit. Orange County had already tagged $31 million for the SunRail system.

Falconer said that the timing of the suit couldn't be more of the essence, as the rest of the state rushes to prepare for the SunRail system to be built while many areas are struggling to meet budget gaps, particularly in education.

"If the SunRail program is terminated, the state of Florida can take the $534 million it has in the bank and use it to prevent cuts to education," Falconer said. "Orange County can take the $31 million it has in the bank to prevent cuts to public safety."

Falconer added that if voters had known how costly the rail system would become, they wouldn't have voted on it, given the chance to make the final decision to create the SunRail system, which was approved by the state legislature in December of 2009.

Bradley said that he hopes that despite the lawsuit, Winter Park will continue to move forward in its discussions with the county about amending their interlocal agreement.

"I'm just glad about where we are in our negotiations with the county right now," he said.