Orange County town hall discusses Amendment 3

Gail Paschall-BrownWINTER GARDEN, Fla. —

We have little more than 60 days until the November election and one of the most important things on the ballot in Florida is Amendment 3.

Orange County residents packed the West Orange High School cafeteria in Winter Garden on Tuesday to learn more about Amendment 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that could expand homestead property tax exemptions. However, local governments fear it would drastically reduce revenue for essential services.

Orange County District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson, who hosted the event, said the purpose of the town hall was to educate attendees and help them make an informed decision ahead of the November election, not about advocating for or against the amendment.

Harold Lardie, a Winter Garden resident, attended the town hall seeking clarity.

“To find out, hopefully, what the truth is on what they’re trying to present and also to find out what the fear mongering is,” Lardie said. “I want to find out about the public services, like the fire department and police department because you can’t cut that.”

Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph explained the potential benefits and drawbacks of Amendment 3.

“The good for a homeowner would be, right, I mean, it is going to increase your Homestead Exemption 150 (thousand) the first year to 250 (thousand) the next year,” he said. “The tradeoff of that is, obviously, local governments have a lot less revenue to be able to do things such as public safety, parks, roads, arts and culture, those type of things.”

The amendment would increase homestead exemptions for non-school property taxes to $150,000 starting in 2027 and $250,000 starting in 2028.

Elise Hui, Oakland town manager, brought up the potential impact on smaller municipalities such as his own, which has a general fund of just over $11 million.

“For an impact of $800,000 each year with Amendment 3 passing, that’s a huge impact to a small jurisdiction like ours,” Hui said. “By year three, our projections are we wouldn’t have enough in our ad valorem to cover public safety.”

Wilson acknowledged the challenges for larger budgets, like Orange County’s of $9 billion.

“It sounds astronomical, but I think the important thing is we balance our budget every year,” Wilson said. “Costs are going up for governments as well as individuals.”