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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: July 9, 2008

Not long ago times were good for local government.

The boom in the housing market in Pasco County and elsewhere around Florida was pushing property values through the roof. This in turn boosted property assessments, which translate into higher property tax revenue for governments - and higher tax bills for property owners - unless county or city government lowered property tax rates. Florida taxpayers raised enough of a stink to get the Legislature to order cities and counties to roll back rates and then approved changes to the state constitution that sheltered more property value from local government taxes.

Then the housing market collapsed, sending property values downward.

The numbers are in for Pasco County and West Pasco's cities.

The county, according to Property Appraiser Mike Wells, lost roughly 10 percent of its total property value, or about $2.9 billion in the last year.

The declines in the cities were a bit steeper. New Port Richey was off 11.3 percent, or about $815 million, and Port Richey 12.6 percent, or $357 billion.

Anyone who considers this bad news will find no solace from Wells. He expects property values to be down even more next year. Until the inevitable turnaround comes, government will just have to operate within its reduced means.

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