Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/215277
Sarasota News Leader November 22, 2013 Page 34 During the Nov. 20 meeting, Patterson asked whether the County Commission could change the date. "I don't know what the reaction of the School Board would be," DeMarsh told her. What he could say, he added, was that under state law, the County Commission "can determine the date of the election." "Obviously," Patterson replied, "we would get into some form of argument" if the commission approved a different date. In her letter to Harmer, Superintendent White wrote that she had learned of commissioners' concerns about the scheduling of the referendum. "It is clear from the conversation that some of the Commissioners are misinformed about the budgeting process for public school districts as determined by state statute," she added. "Our fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30," White continued. The state's Truth in Millage statute "requires that we properly adopt our millage rate for a designated fiscal year in July for notices to be mailed to taxpayers in August. We are prohibited from advertising any additional millage that has not been approved by the public through a referendum. Even if additional millage were to be approved after the fiscal year had started it could not be collected or applied until it had been properly advertised for the following fiscal year." White also pointed out that the revenue brought in annually by the special 1 mill tax "is the equivalent of 500 positions." She added, "The negative impact on educational programs and retaining quality staff would be Commissioner Joe Barbetta makes a point during a budget workshop. File photo significant and would far outweigh any negative consequence of a March election." During his Nov. 20 comments, Barbetta pointed out that White also indicated in her letter "that she doesn't see any substantial difference in the voter turnout between March and November. … I find that a little disingenuous." Barbetta then cited statistics he had obtained from the Supervisor of Elections Office to show much higher turnout statistics for November elections compared to those in March. "The facts are the facts," Barbetta added. "I'm all for the referendum for the monies for education. I don't have a problem with that at all because we need quality education. But this is an issue of taxpayers/ residents being involved in voting." Referring to a shift to a November referendum date, Patterson said of the School Board members, "They haven't done the planning in the past. I think that they should," she