LAND O' LAKES, Fla. — Starting January 10, the Pasco County Tax Collector’s Office is raising the starting wage for entry-level employees to $15 per hour, up from $9.25 per hour five years ago.

  • New workers will now take home $31,200 per year
  • Customer service employees in tax collector offices serve 50,000 customers per month
  • Number has reached current level due to population growth
  • More Pasco County stories

“That was totally unacceptable to me that we had very hard working employees here at the Pasco Tax Collector that were truly underpaid,” Tax Collector Mike Fasano said.

Fasano said under that old starting wage, employees took home $19,200 a year. New workers will now make $31,200 a year.

“It’s been a tremendous difference,” said customer service representative Vicki Stroup of the change in pay she’s seen during the past five years. 

Stroup was hired under the old starting rate, but by the time she started, the incremental raises had already begun. 

“Wondering, ‘How am I going to make ends meet,’ absolutely,” said Stroup of concerns when applying for the job at $9.25 per hour. “It was tough. It was very tough, struggling from one pay period to the next, and now it’s much easier.”

Fasano said as beginning wages have increased, so have those of more seasoned employees. While Fasano said he doesn’t believe in mandating a minimum wage of $15 per hour, he does hope other employers will follow his office’s example.

“People are living in Pasco, but they get up every morning, and where do they go? They drive to Pinellas, they drive to Hillsborough County, because that’s where the higher paying jobs are,” Fasano said.

According to Fasano, customer service representatives in the five tax collector offices across the county now serve 50,000 customers a month. He said that amount has reached current levels because of the population growth the county’s seeing, and fees from those extra customers have helped his office absorb the cost of the pay increases.

The new starting wage will be higher than the upcoming increase to the state minimum wage, which will bring that wage to $8.46 per hour. It's also higher than the starting pay for Pasco County employees, which a county spokesperson said is a living wage of $11.50 per hour.

Across Tampa Bay, the starting pay for entry level customer service representatives in tax collector’s offices are $16.01/hour in Pinellas County, $15/hour in Manatee County, $14.72/hour in Hillsborough County, $12.52/hour in Hernando County, and $12/hour in Citrus County.