For over 30 years, people have bought Christmas trees from what appeared to be a firefighter-backed lot on Granada Avenue in Coral Gables.

But the trees won’t be there this year. The retired Gables firefighter captain who sells them says he withdrew his application with the city and is “not in the Christmas tree business” anymore. The decision came after city leaders began asking questions after learning the for-profit tree-selling company is not actually associated with, nor do its sales benefit, the Coral Gables Firefighters Benevolent Association, a charitable group supporting firefighters and community programs.

“So if it’s not a lie, it’s a lie by omission,” Commissioner Richard Lara said at a commission meeting Tuesday. “Either way, I think it rises to the level of fraud.”

At the meeting, commissioners were expected to approve, as they’ve done annually, a zoning variance that would let the company sell Christmas trees at the Coral Gables Baptist Church, 5501 Granada Blvd.

Instead, Mayor Vince Lago and Assistant City Manager Carolina Vester told commissioners the city had learned the for-profit Firefighters Christmas Trees Inc. merely had a deal with the Coral Gables Firefighters Benevolent Association to use the nonprofit’s name to secure city approval. While the company has donated free trees to charities in the past, the city argues that does not comply with the zoning code requirement that proceeds of the Christmas tree sales go to charity.

Lago said city staff made the discovery after he asked which charities benefitted from the sales.

“When you dig just a little bit over the surface, you start realizing that we’ve been taken advantage of. There is no charity. There is no money. They’re [only] giving away Christmas trees,” Lago said at the meeting.

Tuesday’s meeting happened just one week before the Nov. 3 election, where Lago is running for a fourth and final term. Commissioner Melissa Castro, a political rival of the mayor who is up for reelection in a separate race, argues the scrutiny is political retaliation fueled by Lago because the city’s firefighter union, which is separate from the benevolent association, endorsed her. Lago says it’s not and that he was just doing “due diligence.”

Here’s what to know:

Why did the Christmas tree lot come before the City Commission?

Paul W. Boutin, a retired Gables firefighter captain, said he took over the Christmas tree lot business about 30 years ago from previous fire chiefs who, like him, were members of the association at the time.

Boutin said he’s had a longstanding naming-rights deal with the firefighters’ association. The newest five-year contract, which was provided to the city, shows that Boutin’s company agreed to pay the association $30,000 to exclusively use the group’s name during the annual tree sales from 2026 through 2030.

The contract states the nonprofit group will assist Boutin’s company “to secure approval from the City of Coral Gables to operate the seasonal Christmas tree sale” and that he will give free Christmas trees to charity. The 2025 contract was signed by Boutin and Nick Balsera, the current president of the firefighters’ association.

But Vester, the assistant city manager, on Tuesday told commissioners the city was unaware of the naming-rights contract until recently. She said the company had “misrepresented” the situation to the city all these years.

Another document provided to the city lists some of the schools, nonprofits and government agencies the association “made monetary donations” to in 2023 and 2024. Boutin said those are the places he donated $20,200 worth of Christmas trees to.

He told commissioners on Tuesday that he does not use the association’s name on advertisements and represents himself to customers as Firefighters Christmas Trees. The application he submitted to the city for approval, which includes proof of insurance, lists the for-profit company as the insured party.

But the naming-rights situation didn’t sit well with Lara, who described it as an attempt to “purport fraud,” pointing to an email Boutin sent to City Manager Peter Iglesias on Sept. 1.

“The members of the Coral Gables Firefighters Benevolent Association respectfully request permission to sell Christmas trees in the City of Coral Gables,” Boutin wrote. “We have had our annual Christmas tree sale in the Gables since 1957, and as in past years, and rules and regulations will be adhered to.”

To Lara, the letter, which has the former letterhead of the association, “purports to represent the actual benevolent association’s words and position, not just the name.”

“So anyone reasonably receiving just this letter thinks they’re dealing directly with the Coral Gables Firefighters Benevolent Association. ... They tried to perpetrate fraud when they applied for this” and came to the commission seeking approval, he said.

Balsera, the association’s president, did not return phone messages from the Herald on Wednesday or Thursday. The Herald also contacted the association through an online contact form on its website.

What happened this week?

Commissioners were rattled to learn the association was not actually the entity selling or benefiting from the trees.

Commissioner Ariel Fernandez, who expressed frustration that the situation came before the commission “too late,” proposed letting Boutin sell trees this year to ensure families could continue their tree-picking tradition and then come up with a solution for 2027.

Lara said the city is not trying to “storm the gates at the North Pole, right where the toys are being made” but that he could not support giving a “pass” to a business that was not complying with the city’s regulations.

Commissioners eventually agreed to withhold voting on the matter until the end of the meeting to give the city and Boutin time to make a deal.

Hours later, in the late afternoon, Vester came back to tell commissioners that Boutin withdrew his application.

She said the city had asked him to donate a portion of his proceeds, in cash, to Gables charities. Boutin disputes that and told the Herald that kind of discussion never happened. But he did withdraw his application.

“The mayor evidently didn’t want” the Christmas tree lot to open, Boutin told the Herald, saying he still doesn’t understand why the city took issue with his business now after so many years. Lago himself has previously approved the variance with other commissioners, Boutin said.

“I had everything ready to go,” he added. Boutin said he’d spent about $130,000 preparing for the season and was going to start setting up next week.

Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson said she was “disappointed” and hoped a deal would have been reached that would give some proceeds to charity. Castro, who has bought her tree at the lot for years, was disappointed, too.

“This is one of the reasons I’m running for office,” Castro told the Herald on Wednesday. “I cannot stand when government is unfair to small mom-and-pop businesses.”

Castro harshly criticized the city’s administrative leaders on Tuesday, saying she was “ashamed” and “completely disappointed in the management and administration of this city” and Lago’s leadership. Castro left the meeting to go campaign at the Coral Gables Library just before Boutin’s item came before the commission a second time. Castro said she left because it was the last item, and she knew from speaking with him earlier that he was withdrawing the application.

Lago told the Herald he was just asking questions to ensure the city’s reputation is protected and was pushing to have a setup where the business made cash donations to Gables charities.

“I understand that that may get people upset, but my responsibility is to the residents and to ensure that we protect our brand as the City Beautiful,” he said.

Commissioners have asked the city manager to look into whether there’s a way for the city to sell Christmas trees, if not this year, for 2027. Iglesias has also asked commissioners to consider updating the city’s code to state that a portion — not all — of the money made from Christmas tree sales go to charity.

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