Miami-Dade mayor moves to block future $5 million payout to foundation under scrutiny
Miami-Dade’s mayor said Wednesday she’ll block a planned $250,000 yearly payment to a nonprofit that’s been the subject of scrutiny in recent days over its ability to secure state and county funds without a philanthropic track record.
A Parks Department contract recently approved by county commissioners required a vendor to pay the A3 Foundation $250,000 a year. In a letter to the contractor, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava wrote that she won’t be authorizing the planned annual payout required under the agreement.
Recent articles by the Miami Herald reported that A3 is a two-year-old charity headquartered in a West Miami townhouse and run by a top official in the city of Miami with no public record of charitable work.
A 20-year contract that Levine Cava had recommended to commissioners just last week required the charitable payouts from Loud and Live, a production company that will pay Miami-Dade to run ticketed events at Tropical Park’s equestrian center, the former home to Santa’s Enchanted Forest. The payouts Loud and Live was required to make would have totaled $5 million over the course of the 20-year contract.
The contract allowed the County Commission to select the charity, and Chair Anthony Rodriguez selected A3, a nonprofit that has already received nearly $1 million in county funds connected to the CountryFest rodeo that Rodriguez hosts each year at Tropical Park.
In her letter to Loud and Live, Levine Cava said she will not be signing an amended contract that would require the company to pay A3, as was called for in legislation that county commissioners passed by a wide margin on July 16. Levine Cava said her administration will consider other action before finalizing the Tropical Park agreement.
“At the time, we are determining next steps,” Levine Cava wrote. “We will be in communication with you over the coming days.”
Rodriguez represents the commission’s District 10, which includes Tropical Park. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Levine Cava’s letter.
The letter arrived as the Herald’s stories were sparking growing questions about how A3 ended up on track to get millions through a Parks contract just a day after Levine Cava unveiled a 2026 budget proposal that cuts more than $40 million in nonprofit funding.
Levine Cava’s current budget included a late addition of $125,000 for the A3 Foundation as commissioners prepared to give final approval of her 2025 spending plan last fall. Her budget office has also approved payouts to A3 in recent years at the request of a Rodriguez staffer.
County records show Rodriguez made A3 the clearinghouse for county funds dedicated for CountryFest, the signature event in Rodriguez’s suburban district in the Westchester area.
In the last two years, A3 received nearly $1 million from Miami-Dade. This year it also secured $950,000 in the Florida budget, with almost half of that coming from an allocation made by House Speaker Danny Perez.
Perez is a close friend of Rodriguez. He’s also a friend of A3’s director, Francisco Petrirena, whose full-time job is chief of staff to Miami City Manager Art Noriega.
Petrirena told the Herald last week he was earning $80,000 a year running A3 but hadn’t been paid prior to 2025. An outside employment form the city released Wednesday also showed Petrirena volunteering his time for A3 in 2024. He listed zero compensation as director of the A3 Foundation last year.
He also listed $75,000 in consulting fees from a company he owns, Biltmore Strategies. Before becoming chief of staff to Noriega in May, Petrirena served as government relations director in Miami, a position that made him the city’s in-house lobbyist for state matters.
Petrirena did not respond to requests for comment on Levine Cava’s letter or one earlier in the day Wednesday on who his clients are at Biltmore Strategies.
This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 7:25 PM.