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Taxing Logic

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: February 12, 2008

At the time we confessed to being at a loss to explain why the Pasco School District decided late last year to apply for a $5 million state grant to build affordable housing for the teachers the district is trying to lure to Pasco.

Following Tuesday night's School Board meeting, however, all is clear.

The board voted to ask the County Commission to increase, ASAP, the education impact fee levied on each single-family house under construction in Pasco. The School Board wants the fee raised just a bit more than 100 percent – that's about 25 years worth of consumer price inflation at the current rate – to $8,983 from $4,400. "Time is money," School Board member Frank Parker said in urging quick County Commission action on the district's impact fee increase request.

The $4,500 or so the board wants to tack on to the cost of new houses is also money, especially when the state's housing market is in a tailspin.

No wonder School Board members are worried about housing affordability. Is anyone else?

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