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A computer crash shuts down tax collector offices across Florida

A statewide computer system for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles crashed, impacting the Pinellas County Tax Collector's Office and others across the state.
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A statewide computer system for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles crashed, impacting the Pinellas County Tax Collector's Office and others across the state.

A visit to the tax collector's office to get a new driver's license or license plate can be a chore. But Monday, it was a bit of a nightmare at offices across Florida.

That's because the statewide computer system for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles crashed.

The computer system for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle was up and running again Tuesday. But most of Monday was a frustrating day at tax collector's offices across the state.

Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano said he was told maintenance was done on the system Friday night. Then came Monday morning.

"When they started it back up, I guess it wasn't working," Fasano said. "Especially when all the tax collector offices began starting their servers up and starting their computers up, something major happened where it just went down."

Fasano said being down for an entire day was the longest shutdown he's ever experienced. "We've had it where maybe it goes down for an hour, maybe two hours, maybe 10 minutes," Fasano said. "But never where we've had to turn customers away and tell them to come back tomorrow."

Fasano says people often take time off work or take an extra-long lunch hour to do deal with driver's licenses and vehicle registrations, so Monday's shutdown was frustrating for customers and his staff.

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Craig Kopp