OUR OPINION

Elected officials in Hernando County need to think twice about raising impact fees on the construction of single-family homes - at least anytime soon.

Temporarily rolling back impact fees would do more to help resuscitate an anemic housing construction industry that's threatening to send our county into a spiraling recession.

A school board consultant recently recommended a $5,734 hike in impact fees on new single-family homes, from $4,266 to $10,000 - a 134 percent jump. The extra money would be used to build more new schools, based on the future expected growth of Hernando County. The only problem: Those numbers are based on the explosive growth of recent years - growth that has since come to nearly a standstill.

County officials also are looking at raising impact fees, with recommendations expected to be released later this month.

Adding thousands to the price of a new home could end up being the proverbial straw that breaks the local economy's back.

The housing construction boom has busted. Slamming closed the door to new home construction would likely accelerate the downturn in Hernando County's overall economy.

The housing market is in the doldrums, values are dropping, foreclosures are reaching all-time highs, homes are sitting on the market for months and nary a hammer pounding a nail can be heard anywhere across the county.

Framers, masons, roofers, electricians, plumbers, drywallers, painters, cabinet makers, irrigation installers and so on are desperately looking for work that not long ago seemed limitless.

These are our neighbors, not faceless folks from distant climes. And they're hurting.

Adding to the malaise are escalating raw material and transportation costs. Concrete prices are set to rise substantially today. Lenders, title companies and associated institutions are feeling the pinch, too. Throw in the pool builders and the gutter and fence folks, and the slump spreads.

These troubling economic indicators are combining to produce an extended downturn in Hernando County's overall economic health. Some experts say it may be as long as a year or two before we see a reversal.

Everyone is affected as the housing bust tsunami radiates throughout the county.

Raising impact fees now would further damage the industry, which needs time to right itself, not additional roadblocks to its resurgence. Continued efforts to diversify the economy are paramount.

Neither will happen quickly nor without leadership and judicious planning.

With a 12-year record low number of single-family home building permits issued in November - 29 - and a meager 26 through Dec. 27, the proposal to raise impact fees almost seems ridiculous. From January through November, the number of single-family housing permits plummeted 71 percent from the same period in 2006 - 2,694 to a feeble 776 this year.

The home building industry in Hernando County is essentially on life support. Hiking impact fees would be like removing the respirator.

Besides, how do you build more schools and continue to feed an already fat county government by raising impact fees on such a measly few new homes?

It will only serve to hamstring the industry further.

Government officials would do themselves and all of us a huge favor by sharpening their pencils and looking at where to cut their burgeoning bureaucracies instead of trying to squeeze more money out of an industry that's hemorrhaging.

The money grab is over. It's belt-tightening time.