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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: August 23, 2008

This Tuesday the Tarpon Springs City Commission will be faced with yet another of the unpleasant tasks with which it must grapple during budget season: deciding whether to endorse an increase in fees to use the city's recreation facilities. The city recreation staff is recommending the increase.

As many city and county governments have discovered over the years, it's nice to be able to offer residents parks, athletic fields and other recreation areas. Paying to keep them operating can, however, be an expensive proposition. This is especially true of local governments in Florida these days because of the state's slumping housing market and other economic sectors and mandated cuts in tax rates and a boost in the homestead exemption. They are combining to cut tax revenue flowing into city and county coffers.

Tarpon Springs is grappling with this problem but appears to be facing pressure to put more money into its Fire Department. By national standards it has a significant lack-of-staff problem when it comes to frontline firefighters. The City Commission no doubt has a number of other conflicts of the spend-or-cut sort.

So something, it seems, has to give as far as city spending. Increasing the fees people who use the city's recreation facilities pay seems a sensible choice among a number of unpleasant options if commissioners can't find other spending to cut.

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