School Board, County Commission to Hold Joint Meeting Tuesday Over One-Cent Tax Idea

BRADENTON – A joint BOCC-School Board meeting will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3 at the Bradenton Area Convention Center. The meeting will involve discussion on the idea of a one-cent sales tax, something that would fund infrastructure needs for both the county and the school district.

The joint meeting was scheduled at last Tuesday's meeting for the county commission, who voted 6-1 to schedule, with Robin DiSabatino dissenting. The meeting's creation was noted by the school board at their own meeting later that day. One board member, John Colon, said he agreed with school board candidate Linda Schaich's comments that others were attempting to "piggyback" on the school board by pushing for a one-cent tax.

In an email to County Administrator and other county staff on Thursday, DiSabatino said: "The School Board has stated that they don't want to partner with us and I have publically stated we should not to be hitching our horses to their wagons either. They are relying on hitching their horses to the developers' wagons, and the public will not support those efforts."

DiSabatino added that in her opinion, "any referendum will be DOA and will not pass with 60% approval, if the public knows that any campaign or pacs formed to try to push this through will be developer-funded."

The convention center is located at 1 Haben Boulevard in Palmetto.