Jane MusgravePlans to hold a gala at the Eau Resort in Manalapan conflicted with county’s commitment to the Homeless Coalition.
Plans for a second Palm Beach County Mayor’s Ball collapsed on Saturday amid allegations of conflict of interest, pitting a sitting county commissioner against a former one and prompting one of the county’s top lobbyists to resign from a longheld post.
The gala to honor County Mayor Sara Baxter and raise money for law enforcement was to be held April 18 at the Eau Resort & Spa in Manalapan, a former Ritz-Carlton hotel.
Then in a surprise move, members of the organizing group said the gala, which had never been officially announced, was off.
“My understanding is that the organization is being disbanded,” said Neil Schiller, a Delray Beach land-use attorney who was on the board of the recently formed Palm Beach County Mayor’s Ball Inc.
Schiller, who in 2009 was named a “super lobbyist” by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, is also on the board of the Palm Beach County Homeless Coalition.
The new gala would have competed with a Mayor’s Ball that the coalition is planning for Aug. 29. Since 2014, the agency has had a contract with the county to organize an annual Mayor’s Ball to raise money to help the county reach its goal of ending homelessness.
Melissa McKinlay, chair of the Homeless Coalition and Baxter’s Democratic predecessor on the County Commission, had blasted the plans for the competing gala.
“Two events by the exact same name cannot coexist and be successful,” McKinlay said before the second ball was unexpectedly canceled after Schiller and two of the other four board members resigned.
Calling Schiller a trusted coalition board member, McKinlay also said that she was stunned that he would help organize a competing ball and suggested she would seek to remove him.
As part of the uproar that surrounded the cancellation of the second ball, Schiller resigned from the coalition.
When he agreed to be on the board for the second gala, he told Stet News he just wanted to raise money for law enforcement. He said he didn’t think his efforts would hurt the coalition.
“After becoming aware of the potential conflict with another group (the nonprofit he served on) raising money for law enforcement, I have made the decision to resign from both organizations,” Schiller wrote in his resignation letter.
Good riddance, McKinlay said on Saturday. “We are not sad to see Mr. Schiller go,” she said.
Baxter: Two gala events a good thing
Baxter, who in September unsuccessfully lobbied county commissioners to cut the Homeless Coalition’s subsidy after it balked at her request to hold the ball at Mar-a-Lago, said the coalition was being selfish. Both balls could have been successful, she said.
“I think it’s self-serving on the part of the Homeless Coalition that they only want to raise money for their own charity,” said Baxter, a Republican and strong supporter of President Donald Trump who recently endorsed her reelection bid.
“I think it’s a shame,” Baxter said of the cancellation of the second ball. “They wanted to raise money for law enforcement. The Homeless Coalition could have raised money (to fight homelessness) as well. That would have been a good thing for Palm Beach County.”
But serious questions swirled around plans for the competing gala that would have attracted at least 400 people paying up to $550 for a ticket.
County Attorney David Ottey was investigating whether the second gala violated the county’s contract with the 40-year-old Homeless Coalition to organize the Mayor’s Ball.
Baxter scoffed at the suggestion. She noted that the names of the two balls were different. The coalition’s event is called the Mayor’s Ball. The other, newer effort would have been the Palm Beach County Mayor’s Ball. “It’s a different name,” she said. “It’s in addition to.”
Nonprofit board members back down
But after being contacted by Stet News Thursday and Friday, the new nonprofit, formed the day Baxter became mayor, began to crumble.
Tracy Caruso, a former Delray Beach mayoral and state House candidate who is married to Clerk and Comptroller Mike Caruso, resigned from the board on Friday. She told Stet she was just too busy.
Another member, Delray Beach City Commission candidate Andrea Keiser, also resigned.
“I lent my name to the organization because I thought it was just another community event to support charity,” said Keiser, a land-use lawyer.
After talking to Stet News on Friday and learning that the Homeless Coalition had a contract to host a Mayor’s Ball, she said she had second thoughts.
“Your call to me yesterday alerted and confirmed that it was potentially a competing event so I resigned immediately,” she said.
The fourth member was Sarah Martin, owner of the Experience Epic event planning agency in Delray Beach. She was the registered agent and one of the officers.
Schiller described Martin as the organizer. Baxter said Martin called her to tell her the second gala was off. Martin didn’t return a phone call for comment.
State records show that the Palm Beach County Mayor’s Ball Inc. was incorporated as a nonprofit on Nov. 18, the day Baxter became mayor and weeks after Baxter locked horns with McKinlay over Baxter’s push to eliminate county money for the Homeless Coalition, a move county staff said would be ill-advised.
State records indicate the new group had other problems. While registered with the Florida Department of State, it wasn’t registered with either the Internal Revenue Service or the Florida Department of Agriculture, according to online databases.
Nonprofits must register with the Agriculture Department to solicit money in Florida. They must register with the IRS so donations are tax-deductible.
Role of Larry Ellison
In addition, many questioned the group’s plans to hold the gala at the resort owned by Oracle founder Larry Ellison, worrying that taking advantage of his oceanfront resort hotel could spark influence-peddling concerns.
The balls typically have been held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. Last year, the Homeless Coalition moved the event to the PGA National Resort and then-Mayor Maria Marino broadened it to include municipal mayors, not just her.
Ellison, one of the richest men in the world, in November paid $30 million to buy Lion Country Safari in Baxter’s western county district.
Based on his longtime support for animal conservation, some have suggested Ellison will continue to operate the nearly 60-year-old drive-through zoo, which takes up 254 acres on a 631-acre site off of Southern Boulevard west of Seminole Pratt Whitney Road.
But nearby residents were unnerved by a notice on Lion Country’s website that its longtime campground “will be closing until further notice after 4/30/26.” Concerns were further fueled when it recently posted that it has “reached capacity for our annual pass program and passes are currently sold out.”
If Ellison does decide to redevelop the site, his plans would have to be approved by the County Commission. The commission also controls whether Okeechobee Boulevard would be extended west, a path that takes it right past Lion Country.
Because of Ellison’s history of philanthropy and his pledge to give away 95% of his estimated $200 billion fortune, Baxter said she expected he would donate to the ball held at his hotel — either by underwriting the event or making a donation.
“Charities are not my expertise,” she said when asked what terms, if any, had been negotiated.
What groups would have benefited?
Baxter said she had nothing to do with organizing the event. That was being handled by the nonprofit board members, she said.
Until Saturday, when she said the money would have gone to law enforcement, she said she didn’t know which charities would benefit from the gala at the former Ritz-Carlton.
Keiser missed the group’s opening cocktail party two weeks ago, she said, so she was unfamiliar with any plans that have been made.
Tracy Caruso said there had been talk of sending the gala’s proceeds to four or five different nonprofits in different parts of the county. She said no final decisions have been made.
Giving money to local police foundations, including the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Foundation, was in the mix, said people who were knowledgeable but declined to be identified, a point Schiller confirmed.
The sheriff’s office has provided a taxpayer-funded security detail for Baxter since at least 2024 after she said she received death threats.
Andre Fladell, a longtime political powerbroker who lives in Delray Beach, said he attended the initial cocktail reception of the gala committee. A Baxter supporter, he said he believes each mayor should decide what charity should benefit from the gala.
But, he said, he also doesn’t support the use of government money to help the homeless. “People who work, I care about,” he said. “People who don’t work, let them go hungry.”
But, as any homeless advocate would point out, many people who sleep on the street or in cars, also have jobs. They just can’t afford a roof. Helping them also relieves the government of greater costs later, including policing and incarceration.
Since the Homeless Coalition was tapped to organize the ball and use it to raise money, more than $1.5 million has been collected to help people and families get back on their feet, according to the agency and its supporters. It sends money to various organizations, such as The Lord’s Place, Adopt-a-Family and Gulfstream Goodwill.
‘The Homeless Coalition only cares about helping our community’s homeless, especially our children, find a safe place to call home,” McKinlay said. “We’ve been here for 40 years and we’ll be here for another 40.”
Editor’s Note: After publication, Andre Fladell asked to clarify his views about helping the homeless. “I care about people who are struggling and people who are unable to work. My comments about being hungry relate only to encouraging people who can work and choose not to find work,” he said.
The story has been updated to clarify that the Homeless Coalition, not then-County Mayor Maria Marino, chose the location of last year’s ball.
