{"id":414014,"date":"2026-09-29T19:50:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/414014\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T19:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T19:50:53","slug":"new-calculator-allows-you-to-see-how-your-local-roads-libraries-and-more-will-be-impacted-if-floridas-amendment-3-passes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/414014\/","title":{"rendered":"New calculator allows you to see how your local roads, libraries and more will be impacted if Florida’s Amendment 3 passes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AnAn aerial view of a Tampa neighborhood. Credit: Gianfranco Vivi\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

The constitutional amendment that would reduce non-school homestead property taxes is the biggest policy proposal on the 2026 statewide ballot.<\/p>\n

Amendment 3 would raise the homestead exemption on non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. It would lower the annual assessment growth cap from 10% to 5% for non-homestead properties such as commercial buildings and rental units, and would require people moving to Florida after Dec. 31 to wait 5 years of continuous residency before qualifying for the full increased exemption.<\/p>\n

It would also reduce revenues collected by local governments for essential services, which has caused many locally elected officials up and down the state to oppose the measure.<\/p>\n

Several public websites provide calculators for homestead property owners in Florida to plug into to determine what the reduction in property taxes would amount to.<\/p>\n

Now a calculator<\/a> prepared by the Florida Policy Institute allows Floridians to type in their area codes or select a county from a drop-down list to view the projected revenue losses for county and municipal operations, along with special districts. The website also allows individuals to search by a specific service or view statewide effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really hope this will be a one-stop shop and something easy to use where people can see how the amendment would impact the community,\u201d said Sonia Lindell, director of communications and marketing for the Florida Policy Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is still a lot of information that Floridians would need,\u201d added Sadaf Knight, CEO of the institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lack of understanding to a certain degree about what our property taxes fund and how those impact all of us in our day-to-day life. And so, what we\u2019re hoping with our calculator is to show that these are not just services that you might typically think of running the local government \u2026 but it\u2019s also things like mosquito control \u2026. What we wanted to illustrate is what property taxes fund and what\u2019s at stake so it can become more real for people and understand what the other side of the ledger really is when it comes to Amendment 3\u2019s impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the site shows actual reductions in revenues to local governments if the measure is passed, other sites provide information regarding what homeowners\u2019 personal reduction in property taxes would be if the proposal is approved by 60% of the voters in November.<\/p>\n

When Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his property tax proposal in late May, the state simultaneously unveiled a public calculator<\/a> that encouraged homeowners to estimate how much they would save on their tax bills if his proposal became law. However, that was before the Legislature approved the ballot language in a bill the following week.<\/p>\n

That calculator initially applied the exemption to the entire millage rate, which became inaccurate after the Legislature removed school taxes from the proposed amendment.<\/p>\n

That prompted Jacksonville-based Casey Vockell and his father Steve, a state-certified appraiser, to create their own calculator, called MyExemptionCheck.com.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took the average tax rates [of a county] and then extrapolated out the non-school portion,\u201d he said Monday in a brief phone interview. \u201cSo when you look up Hillsborough, if you\u2019re in the lower end it\u2019s going to overestimate it, whereas if you\u2019re in the higher end it\u2019s going to estimate it, but it\u2019s a lot closer because it\u2019s not just using the full millage rate. I think the millage rate in Tampa [Hillsborough County] is 20, and 11 of it might be what\u2019s exempt. It\u2019s a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other sites say they give an accurate portrayal of savings on property taxes, such as from Florida TaxWatch.<\/a> There are similar calculators on\u00a0the websites of\u00a0various county property appraisers<\/a>\u00a0around the state.<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article appears in Sept. 24 \u2013 30, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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