Bradenton Times News Articles

Have you ever felt that something is going on, but you don't know what it is? If not, go to downtown Bradenton, sit in on one of the Manatee County Commission meetings, and just wait for discussion about the Special Referendum Election that is scheduled for June 18, 2013. I'm reminded of the Joe Pesci scene in JFK, where Pesci says, "It's a mystery, wrapped in a riddle, inside an enigma."

Michael Boyer, District Chief Financial Officer, presented the Manatee County School Board with the details of the District's 2013-14 budget at Monday's workshop, which was mostly about presenting new measures that the finance department will take to prevent errors in the budget, in addition to showing projected revenue for the coming school year.

On Monday, Governor Rick Scott signed off on the new state budget. While some lawmakers saw dollars for their districts fall under the veto axe, millions of dollars in funding for projects designed to help attract events to the Benderson rowing facility and IMG Academy remained intact as the budget was signed into law.

At Tuesday's county commissioner meeting, board members approved a request for another bus route proposal and the "consent" agenda, where you'll often find some of the bad news. In that portion of the meeting,"Meals on Wheels" had their budget cut by almost $6,000 (item #15) and their partner in helping the needy "Adult Day Care" was also cut by more than $16,000 (Item #16). In other business, over 100 citizens showed-up to express their dissatisfaction with a report on a $70 million, 20-year-old road job that those opposed to it call the "Road to Nowhere."

The Gulf Coast Builders Exchange has announced the election and appointment of new Board Members. The following Directors were recently sworn in as 
Board Members: Ron Allen – NDC Construction Company; David Karins – Karins Engineering Group, Inc.; Bill North, Jr. – Hill, Barth & King, LLC; and Kevin Hick – Gator Grading and Paving.

Quick actions by a roofing crew helped save the lives of six dogs and potentially saving a home from significant fire damage on Friday, May 17. West Manatee Fire & Rescue "B" shift, along with Bradenton Fire Department and Manatee County EMS, responded to the structure fire. The first arriving unit found heavy smoke conditions all sides of the structure. Crews made a quick interior attack, putting out the fire within minutes.

Manatee County Commissioner Michael Gallen has sent two emails to County Administrator Ed Hunzeker regarding concerns that citizens are being misled regarding the June 18 referendum to add a half-cent sales tax to fund indigent healthcare programs. Gallen cited direct mail, videos and text being disseminated by a group calling itself Healthy Manatee, as well as the county's own materials to illustrate how easily voters could erroneously get the impression that a vote for the referendum equates to a vote for property tax cuts.

As teachers and students outside of the Manatee School District Building protested cuts to teacher positions that were announced on the same day, Monday's Manatee School Board workshop began. Discussion of the finer details of the Manatee School District's 2013-14 budget took a backseat as the school board went over the first phase of its "Financial Recovery Plan" for the district's budget woes, a large part of which is made up of teacher position cuts and other staffing positions, as well as the closing and selling of property and other cost savings.

Governor Rick Scott vetoed nearly $368 million in spending from the state’s budget before signing it into law on Monday. As promised, Scott took the veto stamp to a number of high-dollar funding projects that he determined to be unworthy and/or geared toward funneling money to lawmakers' districts.

At Monday's Palmetto City Commission meeting, members approved a continuance to the second meeting for the mobile food vender ordinance. For those watching this closely, a vote will likely come soon. In other business, commissioners chose not to move yet on a vote for funding the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.