{"id":400697,"date":"2026-09-15T18:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/400697\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T18:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T18:48:09","slug":"florida-sheriffs-firefighters-slam-property-tax-amendment-as-a-train-wreck-orlando-sentinel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/400697\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida sheriffs, firefighters slam property tax amendment as a \u2018train wreck\u2019 \u2013 Orlando Sentinel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two of Florida\u2019s best-known conservative sheriffs blasted the proposed Amendment 3<\/a> Tuesday, calling the property tax rollback a \u201ctrain wreck,\u201d \u201cdraconian,\u201d and an \u201cemergency\u201d as campaigns on both sides of the contentious issue ramp up ahead of the Nov. 3 election.<\/p>\n

Alongside about two dozen sheriffs and representatives from several police and fire unions, Republican Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said voters should reject the increased homestead exemptions and instead urge Florida lawmakers to come up with a better plan to provide property tax relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo vote \u2018No on 3\u2019 now, and tell your legislators: \u2018Get to work. I want tax relief, and I want my public safety protected. And by the way, I want my stormwater ditches clean, I want my mosquito control, I want my parks, I want my libraries,\u2019\u201d he said, standing in front of a sign reading \u2018Amendment 3 is an Emergency.\u2019 \u201cYou can have it all with responsible work by your legislators, but not with Amendment 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal, if approved by 60% of voters in November, would create a new $150,000 homestead exemption in 2027 and a $250,000 exemption in 2028, which could mean thousands of dollars in tax savings to homeowners. Property taxes are assessed by local governments across Florida and fund most local services, including police and fire protection, which are usually the largest line item in a local government budget.<\/p>\n

\"PolkPolk County Sheriff Grady Judd warns of the impact on local services provided by first responders should Amendment 3 pass in the state during a news conference in Lake Mary, where sheriffs, fire chiefs, police chiefs, firefighters and law enforcement leaders from throughout Florida joined together to voice their concerns on Thursday, September 15, 2026. (Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel<\/p>\n

The amendment is backed by GOP nominee for governor Rep. Byron Donalds, and has also been supported by other top Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, and Sen. Rick Scott. But it has been criticized by many local GOP officeholders.<\/p>\n

While several groups are leading opposition campaigns<\/a>, Florida sheriffs and public safety officials appear to be out front in rallying voters against it.<\/p>\n

A new ad released by the Florida Sheriffs Association features numerous uniformed sheriffs \u2013 including Orange County Sheriff John Mina, a Democrat \u2013 and argues that the proposal won\u2019t actually result in savings but will just lead to tax or fee hikes to make up the revenue elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Among their grievances Tuesday, the sheriffs said Florida lawmakers didn\u2019t create protections for law enforcement funding prior to voting to send the proposal to the ballot, as they did for public schools.<\/p>\n

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods, a Republican, called the idea \u201chalf of a good plan.\u201d He said the amendment was too reliant on the Legislature figuring out the details at a later date, after enshrining the cuts in Florida\u2019s Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an emergency because it strips out the biggest source of public safety funds without a way to replace them,\u201d said Woods, the president of the Florida Sheriffs Association.<\/p>\n

The campaign in favor of the amendment is being bankrolled so far by the Florida Realtors trade association, which has poured $10 million into the effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability is on the forefront for every Floridian, and they need meaningful relief,\u201d said Florida Realtors president Chuck Bonfiglio Jr. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent years working to help people buy homes. But buying the home is only half the challenge. We also need to make sure families can afford to keep the homes they worked so hard to purchase.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two of Florida\u2019s best-known conservative sheriffs blasted the proposed Amendment 3 Tuesday, calling the property tax rollback a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400698,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[112,2811,28,29,2008,114,266,115,1335,139,141,140,99,1014,109],"class_list":["post-400697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-election","tag-florida","tag-florida-news","tag-lake-mary","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-politics","tag-seminole-county","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400697\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}