ORLANDO, Fla. -- Orlando is gambling on something new and it's spending $200,000 of your taxes to do it. The city's paying that much to break a long-time lease with the Safety Council to start a new charter school in its place on Primrose Drive.

Eyewitness News found out it was a city attorney's idea, but some city commissioners say they had no idea the city was spending that much to break a lease.

The Florida Safety Council owns the building, but the city owns the land; therefore the city can kick out the non-profit.

For the past 19 years, the Florida Safety Council has been offering traffic classes to drivers on Primrose Drive, but the city of Orlando is breaking the land lease.

The city is making room for a new charter school. The school won't have to pay rent for the first three years and it will be run by the deputy city attorney, Jodi Litchford. Commissioner Phil Diamond says he has a problem with that.

“I think we should be real careful about the city doing business with city employees. I think the city has an obligation to be transparent and open and I don’t think it was done here,” Diamond said.

The city will be giving the Safety Council $200,000 to break the land lease. The non-profit says that's not a lot of money; it has spent more than $2 million on the building.

“We simply lease the land from the city. We own the building, yet what are we going to do? Pick up the building and move it away? We are really walking away from a building we own,” said Glenn Victor, Florida Safety Council.

“It’s my understand they are happy with their new location on East Colonial,” said Frank Billingsly, city of Orlando Economic Development.

The city stands by the deal.

“Do you think it raises any ethical questions in terms of the city doing business with an employee?” WFTV reporter Mary Nguyen asked.

“No, I don’t. It’s very strategic and improves the education opportunities,” Billingsly said.

The Florida Safety Council has to be out by June 1.

Attorney Jodi Litchford was unable to make time for an interview Monday.

A charter school is an alternative to public education that's still funded by the state and supervised by the school district. That means it gets per-pupil spending and as much as $350,000 to cover start-up costs.

Every charter must also have a mission approved by the state. In this case, that mission would be character education. Charter school board members also cannot take a salary.

As for the success of charter schools, 16 years ago Orange County started with 26. Today, 80 percent are still in business. The six that closed lasted five years or less.