Published by the Florida Center for Government Accountability
Moran spent more than $30k on restaurants, hotels while running Florida government agency
Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran has spent more than $30,000 at high-end restaurants and expensive hotels in Las Vegas, New York and California while leading a government agency created to help finance energy efficient home improvement projects for people with lower incomes, according to receipts first obtained by the Florida Trident.
The Herald-Tribune has independently confirmed these expenses after the Trident shared the receipts with the newspaper.
The largest single expense was for half of a $8,220 dinner for 30 people at the upscale New York steak house Smith & Wollensky on June 6, 2023.
As with the the other expenses, the bill was paid by Florida PACE Funding Agency, for which Moran serves as executive director. The other half of the bill was picked up by California-based DTA, a consulting partner of FPFA.
Moran defended the expenses, pointing to $869 million in private money the program has brought to Florida. He said the expensive dinners served the agency’s public purpose as the government agency needed to attract private dollars from “highly sophisticated investment bankers in a specialized arena.”