Pasco County tax collector cancels contract with Mike Moran led PACE agency “for cause”

The Pasco County Tax Collector’s Office has canceled a contract with the Florida PACE Funding Agency after the Herald-Tribune and the Florida Center for Government Accountability published details of travel expenses the public agency incurred.

Sarasota County Commissioner Mike Moran, who is the executive director of the Florida PACE funding Agency, defended the expenses as part of the agency’s public purpose as the organization requires private dollars to finance energy-efficient home improvement projects that were envisioned to help homeowners unable to tap into traditional lines of credit.

“I will gladly take a group of investment bankers to a nice dinner and buy them a glass of wine to bring another billion dollars to Florida and continue carrying out this mission,” Moran said in an email to the Herald-Tribune during the initial reporting.

The FPFA has helped finance more than $869 million in home improvement projects throughout Florida since it was created through an agreement with the city of Kissimmee and Flagler County in 2011.

However, the expenses — which included thousands of dollars on alcohol, dinners, hotels and plane tickets — did not sit well with Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano.

The former state senator sent a letter to the FPFA’s board chair Mike Steigerwald on Thursday notifying the agency his office was “exercising its ability to terminate the Uniform Collection Agreement” for cause.

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