Single-family building permit numbers are trending upward since December — when the county's new impact fee rates went into effect. ...more

March 8, 2010

Unless the job market rebounds and people feel more secure about the economy, don't look for new home sales to rebound anytime soon, Dudley Hampton, immediate past president of the Hernando Builders Association said Friday. ...more

February 27, 2010

A proposed increase in Pasco County's hotel tax fell short Wednesday of the four votes needed to make it part of the county's new tourism strategy. ...more

February 25, 2010

The popular hue and cry today is jobs, jobs, jobs. While that is surely a noble undertaking, it begs the question: Where do the jobs come from? ...more

February 21, 2010

Housing prices aren't likely to fall much further, but mortgage interest rates are about to start rising, according to well-known Florida economist Hank Fishkind. ...more

February 18, 2010

It's the cities and counties versus the Legislature. On Wednesday, the Florida Association of Counties sued House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater in Leon County Circuit Court over a new law that revises how impact fees can be challenged. ...more

February 12, 2010

Motorists can now drive between U.S. 301 and Falkenburg Road on the newly extended Columbus Drive. ...more

February 3, 2010

A group of business owners from west Pasco County pitched a proposal to county commissioners Tuesday for a privately run sports complex on county-owned land in Hudson. ...more

January 27, 2010

It was distressing to learn of the loss of jobs at Habitat for Humanity. Worse, the decision of the county commissioners to not fund $500,000 presumably because the county doesn't have it, means the loss of $1.54 million grant money that would have been spent in the community. The county likely would have had the money had impact fees not been suspended sometime around July, 2009. From the report on Jan. 10 of the decline in building permits for 2009 and from the impact fees schedule in Highlands County Web site, I calculate roughly that the county lost over $1 million in impact fee revenue because fees were suspended. Clearly the suspension did not stimulate new building. ...more

January 17, 2010

County commissioners have already identified the housing crisis as one of their key focus points heading into 2010. ...more

January 10, 2010