Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano, as part of Clerk & Comptroller Paula O’ Neill’s Constitutional Officers Essay Contest, announced that his office received essays from middle school students in public, private, parochial, charter, online and home schools. The entries were accepted during the month of March. The entrants, students in Grades 6-8, were asked to answer the question: “How do you, as a middle school student, benefit from taxes your family, friends and neighbors pay?”
A panel of judges, not knowing the age, gender, grade, or school of each entrant, chose the essay written by Dominic Fonseca, a student at Thomas E. Weightman Middle School in Wesley Chapel, as the winning submission. Dominic’s essay best communicated his response to the topic question all while meeting the contest criteria of overall essay structure, appearance and readability.
Dominic Fonseca was awarded a $300 Best Buy gift card at a ceremony held at Weightman Middle School on April 28, 2017. Principal Rachel Fowler was on hand to introduce Tax Collector Mike Fasano as well as Dominic Fonseca during the school’s morning news broadcast. All entrants in the contest received a personal letter from Tax Collector Mike Fasano thanking them for their participation in the contest.
The Pasco County Tax Collector’s office plans on participating in the essay contest again in 2018. Students who did not win this year may have the opportunity to enter again during the next school year if they are still in middle school. For more details about next year’s contest or other upcoming promotions and activities coordinated by the tax collector’s office, please do not hesitate to contact Assistant Tax Collector Greg Giordano, at 727-847-8179 or visit www.pascotaxes.com.
Photo caption: (from left to right) Deputy Tax Collector Billy Poulos, Tax Collector Mike Fasano, Dominic Fonseca, Gifted Teacher Freda Abercrombie and Principal Rachel Fowler.