Tampa, FL – Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is warning that a proposed Florida property tax amendment could reduce revenue available for police, firefighters and other city services.<\/p>\n
Amendment 3 will appear on Florida\u2019s November 3, 2026, ballot and requires approval from at least 60 percent of voters. If passed, the measure would increase the homestead exemption applied to non-school property taxes.<\/p>\n
The exemption would rise from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 before increasing to $250,000 in 2028. The amendment would also reduce the annual assessment increase cap for non-homestead properties, including rental and commercial properties, from 10 percent to 5 percent. School property taxes would not be affected.<\/p>\n
Castor estimated the changes could reduce Tampa\u2019s revenue by approximately $35 million during the first year and more than $60 million the following year. She said the city\u2019s property tax collections currently do not cover the combined cost of police, fire and paramedic services.<\/p>\n
Property tax revenue also helps finance roads, parks and other municipal operations. Castor said Tampa could face decisions involving reduced services, special assessments or additional user fees if the amendment passes.<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Chamber has also opposed the measure, saying Florida\u2019s property tax system may need reform but arguing that the amendment does not provide a sufficiently defined solution.<\/p>\n
Gov. Ron DeSantis supports Amendment 3 and has described it as major property tax relief for homeowners. He has disputed concerns that the proposal would require cuts, saying local governments should control spending after years of revenue growth.<\/p>\n
If approved, Amendment 3 would take effect January 1, 2027, with the first changes applying during the 2027 tax year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa, FL – Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is warning that a proposed Florida property tax amendment could reduce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[133243,162116,1779,28,5756,132,90731,11279,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-408116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-amendment-3","tag-city-revenue","tag-firefighters","tag-florida","tag-jane-castor","tag-police","tag-property-tax-amendment","tag-services","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408116","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=408116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}