Amendment 3 impact: Orange County leaders discuss concerns over proposed property tax cut
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
A panel of Orange County leaders warned that if voters approve a massive property tax cut in November, local governments would change dramatically.
“To me, it’s defunding. It really is defunding law enforcement,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said. “Even if the mayor and county commissioners say, ‘Sheriff, we’re not going to cut. We’re just going to leave your budget the same.’ In essence, to me, that is a cut, because I’m going to need another 25 or 50 deputies.”
Mina served on a panel organized by the Orlando Economic Partnership to discuss the impact of Amendment 3. It would increase the property tax exemption on homesteaded properties to $150,000 in the first year and $250,000 in the second year. In 2029, that amount would begin being indexed to inflation.
For many counties and cities, that increased exemption will mean hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph said many small, predominantly residential cities would have to dissolve or consolidate.
“Belle Isle, Edgewood, Windermere, they’re gone,” Randolph said.
Former Republican state Senator Jeff Brandes said he believes at least 50 cities would disappear because they couldn’t afford to continue providing services, including law enforcement.
He also predicted that many municipalities would need to increase fees and other non-ad valorem revenue sources to make up for the lost property tax money. In some cases, that would mean longtime homeowners would end up paying more to their local governments.
Brandes said counties would also be looking to bring in more commercial development, including potentially data centers.
“Liberty County has $ 1.1 billion in total taxable value. They build a billion-dollar data center, they double the taxable value of the entire county,” Brandes said. “The best thing that could happen to data centers could be Amendment 3 in rural districts.”