Local BN – Jorge Borges October 31, 2023

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. – More than 250 high school students received their learner’s permit or driver’s license from the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s Office during the Student Saturdays initiative this month.

With the program’s launch, which is only available to high school students in Hillsborough County, parents and teenagers will find it easier to complete the licensing process as there will be no need to miss work or school to take the written and road skills exams.

Parent Renee Nelson took to social media to praise the initiative and how it made life easier for her family, writing, “This made life so much easier not having to take time off work or school for our teen to get their permit. It was fast and fun. The entire staff was upbeat. They pushed the teens to advocate for themselves and had the parents take a “backseat” as the child navigated the process. Super impressed!”

At the October 14 and 21 launch events, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office gave the new drivers a sweet treat and road safety advice in addition to giving away free car safety kits.

Although only 5% of Florida’s licensed drivers are teenagers, teen drivers are involved in more than 11% of crashes, according to the state’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

The program’s launch is in tandem with October’s National Teen Driver Safety Month and the Tax Collector’s initiatives to encourage responsible teen driving.

The Tax Collector’s Office has introduced a number of programs to address the growing demand for driver’s license services, Student Saturdays being just one of them.

In the fiscal year 2023, the Tax Collector’s Office served over 933,000 customers in their branch offices, catering to the County’s growing population of over 1.5 million.

The Tax Collector’s Office doubled the number of road tests it conducted each day in order to accommodate the increasing demand. It did this by hiring more driving test examiners and extending its driver license service hours. They conducted nearly 5000 road tests in the three months from October to December 2022. Over a three-month period from July to September of this year, that number more than doubled to over 10,000 road tests.

More than 250 high school students received their learner’s permit or driver’s license from the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s Office during the Student Saturdays initiative this month. The launch of the new Saturday services, exclusive to Hillsborough County high school students, was designed to make the licensing process more convenient for teens and their parents, eliminating the need to miss school or work to take their written and road skills tests.

Parent Renee Nelson took to social media to praise the initiative and how it made life easier for her family, writing, “This made life so much easier not having to take time off work or school for our teen to get their permit. It was fast and fun. The entire staff was upbeat. They pushed the teens to advocate for themselves and had the parents take a “backseat” as the child navigated the process. Super impressed!”

Student Saturdays are just one of a series of initiatives the Tax Collector’s Office has launched to meet the rising demand for driver’s license services.

With more than 1.5 million residents in the County and growing, the Tax Collector’s Office served more than 933,000 customers in their branch offices during the 2023 fiscal year.

To meet the growing demand, the Tax Collector’s Office hired additional driving test examiners and expanded driver license service hours, doubling the number of road tests administered daily. In the three months between October and December 2022, they administered close to 5,000 road tests.

From July to September of this year, that number doubled to more than 10,000 road tests over the course of the same three-month period.

“We are extremely pleased with the success of our Student Saturdays event,” said Tax Collector Nancy Millan. “We are focused on enhancing our services and delivering an unparalleled customer experience, and we will continue to find new and innovative ways to deliver.”

See story from Tampa Free Press here.