The Rodeo of Public Funds (Payment for CountryFest2025): When Charity Covers for Mismanagement

The Rodeo of Public Funds (Payment for CountryFest2025): When Charity Covers for Mismanagement. And it’s not a new phenomenon in Miami-Dade

In the midst of a historic budget deficit exceeding $403 million, the Miami-Dade County administration has approved—without prior oversight—a series of multimillion-dollar allocations to entities whose background and real operations deserve thorough scrutiny.

One of the most recent cases, uncovered by the Miami Herald, raises serious questions: a newly created foundation, A3 Foundation, will receive $250,000 annually for 20 years as part of a contract between the county and a private production company. This foundation was incorporated in 2023 and, according to its own tax return that year, reported less than $25,000 in its bank account.

The allocation stems from a contract awarded to Loud and Live, a private firm tasked with operating events at Tropical Park. The contract—presented as a last-minute item on the July 17, 2025 agenda—was approved without going through technical committee review, a procedure that, while legally permitted, limits the possibility of transparent public or expert evaluation.

The connection is direct: Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez, Chair of the Commission and host of CountryFest, acts as the political sponsor of A3. His own legislative director is listed as the foundation’s contact on the invoices. Conflict of interest? That’s putting it lightly.

Who runs A3 Foundation?

The president of this foundation is Francisco Petrirena, currently Chief of Staff to the City of Miami Administrator, Art Noriega. According to statements gathered by the Herald, Petrirena is its sole employee and has received an $80,000 annual salary starting this year. The foundation’s fiscal address is listed as a private townhouse in West Miami, and as of the publication date, it had no functional website or visible contact methods.

Institutional Ties

A3 Foundation is directly linked to CountryFest, an event held at Tropical Park and associated with Commissioner Anthony Rodriguez, current Chair of the Board of County Commissioners. He introduced the legislation that granted the contract to Loud and Live and promoted the waiver of bidding requirements for the festival. Furthermore, his legislative director appears as a contact for the foundation in multiple official documents.

The situation reasonably raises questions about the ethical handling of the legislative process. While no party is directly accused of legal wrongdoing, the observed pattern—public resource allocation without technical review, personal ties to beneficiaries, regulatory exemptions—calls for independent evaluation.

How is the project funded?

According to funding request documents reviewed by this outlet:

• $500,000 (80%) comes from the State of Florida
• $125,000 (20%) comes from Miami-Dade County
• $0 from private or federal funds

Total project (2025-2026): $625,000

No matching funds from the private sector are reported, which reinforces the need to ensure transparency mechanisms for how these resources are spent.

Who monitors public funds?

The official County memorandum, dated July 16, 2025, signed by County Attorney Geri Bonzon-Keenan, confirms that this legislation was exempt from committee review—just like many other high-impact budgetary documents.

This practice, though procedurally valid, weakens institutional controls. Added to this, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s administration has requested a record budget of $12.9 billion for the 2026 fiscal year, without having presented a detailed public audit of the current deficit or of expenditures like those involving A3 Foundation.

The questions every citizen has the right to ask are echoed in the people’s voice:

• What was the selection process for this contract?
• Who will monitor the use of those funds?
• Why does the pattern of contracts exempt from technical review keep repeating?

In times of budget restrictions—when social programs are being cut and jobs eliminated in key areas—any diversion from transparency and accountability should concern us as a society. It is urgent that entities such as Florida’s Department of Management and Efficiency (DOGE) closely examine these procedures.

Institutional silence cannot become the norm.

Can such a sum be given again to an administration that has shown it cannot manage public funds?

Can the debt be “erased” as if nothing happened, new accounts opened, and those who bankrupted the county rewarded again?

All this happens under a system where the law is not strictly applied, oversight appears gravely flawed, and corruption seems institutionalized. In this context, the Department of Management and Efficiency (DOGE)—created precisely to monitor fund mismanagement and abuse of power in local governments—becomes an urgent necessity.

Citizens must ask themselves:

• Who approves these million-dollar contracts without review?
• Who benefits from this lack of control?

Because while the people pay more taxes, the political elites of the county keep playing by their own rules. And that must change. What’s worse is that they don’t listen to the conscious demands of the county’s residents.

It is time to demand clear answers, full audits, and real consequences. This county cannot be governed as if it were a private estate. Enough is enough.

Recall them all. New elections in Miami-Dade.

📄 Official documents and reports:
Full article: Miami Herald
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