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Politics & Government

County, School Board Agree on New District Map

County commissioners and school board members easily found common ground on new districts each will represent.

The sometimes politically charged task of dividing Pasco County into county commission and school board districts this year appears to have gone with hardly a feather ruffled.

County commissioners and Pasco County School Board members gave their blessing during a joint meeting Tuesday to a redrawn district map with only a small objection from one school board member.

The state Constitution requires county commissions and school board members redraw the districts that members represent when new U.S. Census data comes out every 10 years.

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The idea is to account for population shifts in an attempt to make sure each commissioner and board member represents about the same number of people.

This year, the number was 92,939 people for each of the county’s five districts.

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The commission and school board met Tuesday to go over four options for the new districts.

The last time board members and commissioners did this, gas cost $1.26 a gallon and Pasco County had 344,765 people, said County Administrator John Gallagher.

This time, 464,697 people live in the county, a number that rose right along with the price of gas.

The only debate came when the two government bodies discussed two of the four options.

Option 3 more closely balanced the number of schools each board member’s district covered and was favored for that reason by board member Steve Luikart.

But that version placed a portion of New Port Richey east of U.S. 19 in District 5 represented by Luikart on the school board and County Commissioner Jack Mariano.

Commissioners and school board members thought Option 4 was less confusing. That option kept New Port Richey residents east of U.S. 19 in District 4 that’s represented by board member Alison Crumbley and Commissioner Henry Wilson.

“I’m disappointed but that’s OK,” Luikart said after commissioners and board members accepted the fourth option.

The new district divisions did not bring major changes from the map used over the last decade.

Land O’ Lakes remains in District 2 represented by Commissioner Pat Mulieri and School Board member Joanne Hurley.

The rest of Central Pasco County, mainly north of State Road 52, is in District 1 represented by Commissioner Ted Schrader and School Board member Allen Altman.

Commissioners and board members rejected Option 1 and Option 2 without discussion.

While voters elect commissioners and board members in countywide voting, each must live in the district he or she represents.

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