When Florida voters go to the polls starting next week \u2014 in addition to a slew of local and statewide candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot \u2014 voters will be asked to decide on the future of property taxes in the state.<\/p>\n
During a special session in June, the Florida Legislature voted to put Constitutional Amendment 3<\/a> on the ballot. It would increase the homestead property tax exemption for all non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. Those numbers would adjust for inflation after 2028.<\/p>\n The amendment must get 60% of the electorate in the 2026 election to vote yes in order to pass.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what Florida voters need to know about the property tax change will mean for them, their neighbors and their communities:\u00a0<\/p>\n Amendment 3 savings<\/p>\n The drop in taxes from Amendment 3 is widely expected to have a corresponding drop in revenue for Florida city and county governments.<\/p>\n There are dozens of groups spending millions of dollars across Florida trying to persuade voters to either pull the yes or no levers for Amendment 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n Florida TaxWatch, the independent nonpartisan tax institute, has a calculator<\/a> that allows homeowners to see how much they would save under Amendment 3 based on all the local non-school millage rates.<\/p>\n It notes that homesteaded property owners will still pay school property taxes under Amendment 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Jacksonville\/Duval County, the calculator says a homeowner with a $250,000 house could save an estimated $2,258 in 2028 on their city property taxes.<\/p>\n But, as some tax and detractors of Amendment 3 note, there could be costs for homeowners outside of their property tax bills.<\/p>\n A hit to local governments<\/p>\n One of the most widely discussed effects of the property tax cut is the financial hit to city and county governments and what that means for services.<\/p>\n Florida TaxWatch projects that Amendment 3 would cut local property taxes by $45.8 billion over five years. In its Florida Taxpayer\u2019s Voter Guide for the 2026 Constitutional Amendments<\/a>, the organization says that local governments could lose out on $4.9 billion in the first year of the amendment.\u00a0<\/p>\n It points to the Legislature\u2019s Revenue Estimating Conference that says that could rise to $11.8 billion by fiscal year 2031-32.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Jacksonville, the City Council auditor\u2019s estimates<\/a> are in-line with TaxWatch\u2019s assessment.\u00a0In 2027, the auditor expects the new homestead exemption will reduce the city\u2019s projected revenue by $200,000. That\u2019s 10% of Jacksonville\u2019s roughly $2 billion operating budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2028, that jumps to $300 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n TaxWatch came out in September urging<\/a> Florida voters to say no to Amendment 3. TaxWatch estimates that, for Jacksonville, that number will climb to $416.2 million by the 2031-32 fiscal year. Over five years, the organization says Duval County could lose nearly $1.69 billion in property tax revenue.<\/p>\n For St. Johns County, TaxWatch estimates the five-year loss could be $803.4 million, and $297.2 million for Nassau County.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chris Hand, a government law attorney and chief of staff for former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, says if Amendment 3 passes there will be three moves for local governments \u2014 cut spending, find efficiencies to save money and raise other revenue.<\/p>\n \u201cYou may remember that scene from The Fugitive where Tommy Lee Jones says, we\u2019re going to do a hard target search of every outhouse, henhouse, doghouse. And I think that philosophy, that approach will really define what every city and county government in Florida does in the event Amendment 3 passes,\u201d Hand told Jacksonville Today. \u201cThey\u2019re going to have to look everywhere for fiscal levers they can pull to try and mitigate the impacts of these revenue losses.\u201d<\/p>\n Amendment 3 would require cities to use all the remaining property tax revenue solely for pubic safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt, services, retirement benefits for employees, and operations and administration.<\/p>\n But unlike an early proposal by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the tax cut in Amendment 3 does prohibit cuts to police, fire or any other government services.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jacksonville City Council President Nick Howland, a Republican who supports Amendment 3, has said it would be the council\u2019s priority not to cut public safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many Florida law enforcement agencies and groups, including the Florida Sheriff\u2019s Association<\/a>, doubt cuts to public safety will be avoidable if Amendment 3 passes.<\/p>\n In this year\u2019s city budget<\/a>, that\u2019s nearly $1.1 billion of the $2 billion spending plan. Nearly $1.3 billion of the city revenue for 2026-27 came from property taxes, according to budget documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n If Jacksonville said no cuts to police and fire services, Hand points out that\u2019s a much smaller $900 million pot of money from which leaders will need to cut $300 million.<\/p>\n Hand, who helped craft budgets in the Brown administration during the Great Recession, says that could likely lead to some job cuts at the city. He says city officials would likely start by cutting open positions. But more cuts could be needed.\u00a0<\/p>\n He says that fewer people working in the city could lead to slower or a reduction in services.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a horrible exercise for anybody to go through. These are people\u2019s livelihoods. These are hardworking public servants,\u201d Hand said. \u201cBut with this scale of a cut, it\u2019s hard to imagine that personnel is not one of the issues that the city will be examining.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from law enforcement, city leaders would have to determine where else to make cuts. The largest city department budgets this year were $69.39 million for Public Works; $58.74 million for Parks, Recreation and Community Services; $57.39 million for Kids Hope Alliance and its youth programing; and $45.74 million for public libraries.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city also contributed $56 million to UF Health Jacksonville for indigent care, increased spending on road resurfacing to $35.94 million, and allocated $25 million to phase out aging septic tanks in Jacksonville neighborhoods.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re having to make a cut of that size, the word scalpel doesn\u2019t really come into it,\u201d Hand said. \u201cThat\u2019s more of using a cleaver at that point. Which is why I think you\u2019ll see the city of Jacksonville, and again, other city and county governments around the state, use a variety of tools,\u201d Hand said.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Hand, maintaining services will probably not be sustainable with spending cuts alone. He expects many cities and counties to look at raising existing taxes and fees or finding new ones to levy.<\/p>\n New taxes, fees and millage hikes<\/p>\n To make up for lost revenue, some cities could move to raise fees and other taxes to plug some of the revenue hole.<\/p>\n Although Amendment 3 exempts the first $250,000 of a homestead\u2019s taxable value, homeowners will still have to pay property taxes on the taxable value higher than $250,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n The amendment also lowers the cap from 10% to 5% on how much non-homesteaded properties, including commercial properties, can rise.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hand says increasing the millage rate on the remaining taxable property could be an option. That could raise tens of millions for a city like Jacksonville.<\/p>\n In Jacksonville, if two-thirds of the council agreed, they could raise the JEA franchise fee. It\u2019s currently at 3% and could be raised to 6%. The city raised $53.2 million on franchise fees this year.<\/p>\n There are also local sales taxes, like the indigent care surtax, that cities and counties could also try to raise. But, in Florida, that tax hike would need the OK of the voters, too.<\/p>\n Hand says New Smyrna Beach explored a fire assessment in the event of Amendment 3 passing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you can\u2019t receive the same revenue from property taxes going forward, a more diversified revenue approach is one that I think many of them will explore,\u201d Hand said.<\/p>\n If local taxes and fees start to rise in the wake of an Amendment 3 approval, Hand said he would watch for the Legislature to step in and try to curb or put no limits on local government\u2019s fee-setting ability.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Who\u2019s funding Yes and No campaigns?<\/p>\n Every organization that receives financial support from city and county governments, as well as industry groups linked to housing, are following the Amendment 3 debate closely.\u00a0<\/p>\n Statewide law enforcement groups, arts organizations, chambers of commerce and the independent nonpartisan tax research groups have either come out against the measure or warned of the strain it will put on cities and their affiliates.<\/p>\n DeSantis, many state-level Republican lawmakers and other industry groups are pushing for its passage.<\/p>\n Vote Yes<\/p>\n Within weeks of the Legislature\u2019s vote, the Florida Association of Realtors launched \u201cVote Yes on 3\u201d<\/a> campaign and began funnelling millions of dollars into the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Florida Department of State\u2019s Division of Elections campaign finance data base<\/a> shows that real estate interests have contributed $21.51 million into the Vote Yes on 3 effort, the vast majority coming from the Florida Realtors organization.<\/p>\n Florida Realtors and proponents of Amendment 3 have framed homestead property tax reductions as an affordability issue for the middle class. Their argument is that the cost associated with taxing homesteads piles onto insurance and grocery and utility costs, among other necessities.<\/p>\n \u201cAffordability is on the forefront for every Floridian, and they need meaningful relief,\u201d Florida Realtors President Chuck Bonfiglio Jr. said in a Sept. 9 news release announcing the campaign. \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 The Florida Realtors\u2019 regional affiliate, Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, has been conducting an internal campaign to educate its residential and commercial members about Amendment 3, the organization\u2019s Government Affairs Director Nancy Garcia told Jacksonville Today.\u00a0<\/p>\n In late September, a poll from the University of North Florida\u2019s Public Opinion Research Lab<\/a> showed that 63% of homeowners surveyed said property insurance was a bigger concern than property taxes.<\/p>\n The push to pass Amendment 3 has since received out-of-state money. On Oct. 9, the National Association of Realtors, the Florida Realtors\u2019 parent organization, made a $2.0165 million donation to the Vote Yes on 3.<\/p>\n Vote No<\/p>\n On the flip side of the issue, the \u201cVote No on Amendment 3\u201d<\/a> campaign to oppose the property tax cut launched in June by former Leon County Commissioner Bryan Desloge<\/a> through Stop Unfair Tax Shifts Today Inc.<\/a><\/p>\n Campaign finance records show<\/a> that Vote No on 3 Florida Inc. and other anti-Amendment 3 groups have raised far less money than the Vote Yes campaign, mostly from individual donors and government groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n Those include the Florida Association of Special Districts, Palm Beach County League of Cities and Our Democracy, the political committee for Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.\u00a0<\/p>\n These groups are warning of cuts to public safety, basic city services and hurricane preparedness by local entities, if property tax revenue drops.\u00a0<\/p>\n They also worry that if cities raise millage rates on commercial properties to compensate, that will result in rising rents and put more financial pressure on small businesses and people who live in rental units.<\/p>\n They also point to Republican sheriffs, tax watchdogs and lawmakers concerned about what the tax cut will do to public safety services.<\/p>\n In Jacksonville, business groups like JAX Chamber <\/a>and the Civic Council<\/a> have come out against Amendment 3.<\/p>\n