By Elijah Penn, Editor-in-Chief
Did you know that in Pasco County, Mosquito Control commissioners are elected by voters?
Pasco County Mosquito Control District (PCMCD) is one of 15 independent mosquito control districts in Florida. This means that it is comprised of a board of elected commissioners and has the authority to levy taxes.
PCMCD recently reached its 75-year milestone in May. However, this year will mark big changes for the way the commission is elected.
In the 2025 Florida legislative session, state Representative Brad Yeager sponsored a bill which created term limits for PCMCD commissioners of two four-year terms and mandated the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) to create the PCMDC commission subdistricts.
Yeager’s bill also fundamentally altered who elects PCMCD commissioners. Previously, the seats were voted on county-wide, but beginning of 2026, only registered voters in the subdistrict represented by the commissioner(s) seeking reelection can vote in the race.
In the 2026 legislative session, Rep. Randall Maggard revised terms to three four-year terms and mandated the BOCC to include all of Zephyrhills in the PCMCD commission Subdistrict 2.
On Nov. 3, voters in eastern Pasco County will decide who their PCMCD commissioner will be for Subdistrict 2, which covers all of Pasco roughly from I-75 east, with a few carveouts falling west of I-75. There is no incumbent in this race as the current District 2 commissioner, Matthew “Skeeter” Abbott, who has served on the board since 2007, is no longer eligible under the new term limits and drawing of subdistrict lines.
Abbott ran as a Republican in the 2026 primary for Rep. Kevin Steele’s vacant seat of the Florida House of Representatives District 55, but was defeated by Walter Price, who will face Democrat Zach Funkhouser in the general election.
PCMCD is comprised of three commission seats representing west, central, and east Pasco. It is responsible for overseeing mosquito control efforts in Pasco to limit mosquito-borne diseases by spraying to kill mosquitos and researching mosquitos and the diseases they carry. It also monitors best practices and local and national trends in infection. Its commission is charged with overseeing operations and approving financial decisions.
This election comes at an unpredicted time in mosquito-borne illnesses in Tampa Bay, with Pasco, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties declaring a state of emergency due to the worst recorded spread of dengue fever in the state.
Vying for this open seat in the nonpartisan PCMCD commission subdistrict are Gregory J. Fuher, a local businessman, and Shanon R. Holm, a member of the Mirada Community Development District.
Originally, from Michigan, Gregory Fuher joined the Navy at 17. He moved to Florida in 2005, living around the state before settling in Pasco in 2009.
Fuher was in the auto salvage industry for 20 years before starting his own consulting company, but it is politics that has always been his passion. This passion led him to file for the open PCMCD seat.
Fuher realizes how important PCMCD is and has researched their operation and the issues they face. This led him to discovering issues he believes he can resolve in their operations with his business experience.
The top three priorities Fuher holds are cutting wasteful spending, reviewing old contracts that may no longer benefit PCMCD or taxpayers, and ensuring that all equipment is up to date and safe.
“I think the board has been focused more on building some monstrous campus up closer to the executive director’s home instead of being focus on whether we are being a good steward of the taxpayer’s money,” said Fuher.
He believes that his twenty-plus years of experience overseeing complex business operations and budgets qualify him to help bring accountability to PCMCD.
“We should be trying not to spend taxpayer money just because we have it and think we should,” said Fuhur, “that’s how spending gets out of control in government agencies.”
Fuher wants to move PCMCD from seeking more tax money to finding ways to cut costs in daily operations.
“When you’re running an organization on ‘where do I get more money’ instead of ‘how can I spend less money and still get a great effect,’ then that’s a big problem,” said Fuher.
A Floridia native, Shanon Holm, came to Pasco after graduating from USF in 2007. He minored in Political Science and has always been interested in Politics.
Holm has been following PCMCD since 2012 and ran multiple times for a board seat against incumbent commissioners. He didn’t plan to run again until the new district lines offered an opportunity.
The top three priorities Holm has for PCMCD are the efficient use of tax funds, continuing high-level service, and cutting spending.
Holm currently sits on the Mirada CDD, where he and his fellow board members oversee a budget of tax funds. During his time on the board, he successfully fought a proposed tax increase. He also came out against the new $37 million facility the PCMCD proposed in 2024, calling it “wasteful spending.”
Holm noted that the Hillsborough County Mosquito Control, which operated under the Hillsborough County BOCC, has a budget of $7.7 million dollars, compared to PCMCD’s $25 million budget. Although about half of that budget is reserves, PCMCD still outspends its southern neighbor.
“Our budget has bloomed. Six years ago, it was about $10 million. So, we just keep spending more and more, said Holm. “It seems like we’re spending every penny we can get our hands on, which is not what we should be doing.”
Holm positions himself as someone with experience overseeing tax budgets with proven results and an active participant in dialogue with the PCMCD since 2012.
“You’ve got to be able to fight for the taxpayers, and I think I’ve proven that I’m that person who’s able to do that,” said Holm.
With PCMCD being primarily a budgetary role, East Pasco voters must decide which of these they think will best oversee this important operation and put their tax dollars to use in the most cost-effective way.
