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A little more than a year ago the city of Tuscaloosa, AL passed an ordinance requiring all student housing to have sprinklers, including GLO's. No grandfathering. The biggest problem is that the University of Alabama's water system simply can't handle it. So the UA has been forced to bump that up on their "To Do" list, something they hadn't really planned on. Still, folks are guessing that we'll have until about 2010 to meet the codes.
I heard through the grapevine that one of the smaller (physical size) houses got an estimate of $80,000. All GLO House Corps are now reworking their budgets to try and save for this.
Here's something though, the University has somehow been able to set it up so donations from GLO alums can be made for their housing through the UA and be tax deductible. I'm not sure of the details, but I can find out. Our House Corp Pres also works for the UA and was instrumental in setting this up. I'll try to find out more and report back.
Another thing, a while back (2-3 years ago?) I received a mass email from my Internationals about a proposed federal legislation that would make donating to student housing fully tax deductible. Inat'ls wanted everyone to contact their Reps in support of the bill. I never did hear what the outcome was, but I assume since I haven't heard anything else that it must have died.
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