Manatee School Board Postpones Budget Vote

BRADENTON - The final public hearing and vote on the Manatee County School District's FY 2013-14 budget, set to take place at Monday's regular meeting, has been postponed.

Superintendent Rick Mills advised during his opening remarks that he has asked that the board pospone its final public hearing and vote on the district's FY 2013-14 budget, in order to give the public more time to review the budget before such a hearing takes place. 

The move was in response to criticisms that the budget had not been made public with enough time before the meeting. Noting that the budget did not become available to the public until Sunday, September 8, Mills said that the district had meant to post the documents earlier. In light of the error and after some discussion, the board decided to set the new date for Tuesday, September 17.

In a statement released prior to the meeting, Mills said:

"... While the Final Budget was released to members of the Manatee County School Board late last week, it was not posted to our school district website as intended for the public to view. I take full responsibility for that oversight. As soon as I became aware of that situation, I took immediate actions to remedy it and the Fiscal Year 2013-2014 Final Budget was posted earlier today on our website under ‘Hot Topics’. Again, as Superintendent I am committed to full and complete transparency in all aspects of our school district. I look forward to working with our School Board and public to finalize this budget as we move forward.”