School Board Approves $300k March Property Tax Referendum

BRADENTON – In a 3-2 vote at Tuesday’s meeting, Manatee School Board members approved a special election on March 20, 2018, to ask taxpayers via referendum to voluntarily increase school property taxes by one mill.

At a workshop one week prior, Manatee Supervisor of Elections Michael Bennett told the board that conducting the election would cost the district $300,000 in taxpayer money and that should the board wait until that November’s general election, it could be conducted at no cost.

Tuesday’s vote remained split in the same denomination that it had been throughout the process. Board members Dave Miner and Charlie Kennedy have championed the cause most vocally, arguing that the community must make an investment similar to that of Sarasota County, where teachers are paid more, if it is to attract the best talent and achieve the best results. Kennedy and Miner have been adamant that the election take place in March so that, were it to pass, the funds can be accessed for the 2017/18 school year.

Board members John Colon and Scott Hopes have questioned whether the district has demonstrated a true need for the additional funds and exhausted all possibilities in terms of better managing the existing budget before asking taxpayers to pay more. Both have noted that taxpayers just approved a major tax increase via the 15-year extension of the optional half-cent sales tax, and argued that spending $300,000 for a special election, when the referendum could be conducted at no cost so soon afterward, was not a fiscally-responsible plan.

Bennett presented yet another free option on Tuesday, telling the board it could conduct the referendum on the August primary ballot and still collect the funds for the 2017/18 school year. Bennett explained that the district could send TRIM notices to taxpayers in August, using the one-mill higher rate, while noting that the amount on the notice could decrease if the referendum doesn’t pass. The amount levied can always be lower than the amount on the TRIM notice but not higher, Bennett explained.

School Board member Dave Miner erupted at the suggestion, while superintendent Dianna Greene opined that it would be difficult to recruit teachers over the summer without knowing whether the extra money for pay would be there when they started in the fall. Bennett’s option, however, reinforced Colon and Hopes’ joint oppostion.

The swing vote again came from first-term member Gina Messenger, a former teacher herself, who has expressed concern over the cost of a special election and the idea that with a $300,000 special election, the district would essentially be asking taxpayers to pay money just to ask themselves whether they want to pay even more money. However, Messenger ultimately agreed that securing the funds to increase teacher pay for next year was essential and sided with Miner and Kennedy to pass the motion in a split vote.