{"id":454664,"date":"2026-11-12T14:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/454664\/"},"modified":"2026-11-12T14:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T14:50:10","slug":"st-pete-can-build-its-way-out-of-amendment-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/454664\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Pete can build its way out of Amendment 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

My friend and mentor Paul Bradshaw has an op-ed in today\u2019s Tallahassee Democrat<\/a> arguing that the Capital City needs a \u201chard reboot\u201d and that voters just ordered one. He\u2019s right, and not only about Tallahassee. That is the purifying beauty of an election. A city gets to admit what it has been pretending not to know.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg had its own moment last week when it elected Charlie Crist<\/a> with 62% of the vote. However, the more impactful decision may have been made on the same ballot by the rest of Florida. Amendment 3 passed<\/a>, also with 62%.<\/p>\n

The amendment raises the homestead exemption on non-school taxes to $150,000 next year and $250,000 in 2028. Homeowners get a break. City Hall\u2019s own estimate<\/a> is that St. Pete loses $33 million in Fiscal Year 2028 and $54 million the year after. Nearly all of the city\u2019s property tax money already goes to police and fire. Crist has already shelved<\/a> the 0.4-mill tax cut he campaigned on.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Times\u2019 Graham Brink has a sharp list<\/a> of what to expect across Florida, from fights over libraries and parks to new user fees. He also expects cities to slow the approval of big projects while they sort out their finances.<\/p>\n

St. Pete should do the opposite. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Unlike almost any other big city in Florida, the Sunshine City can build its way out of the Amendment 3 pain.<\/p>\n

Jason Mathis of the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership gave the City Council the math last Thursday. <\/p>\n

Downtown is about 3% of the city\u2019s land and almost 20% of its property tax revenue. Six recent projects, Saltair, Ascent, Art House, 400 Central, Vantage Lofts, and 1701 Central, generate close to $30 million a year in property taxes. The 3rd and 3rd apartments open next year and add $2 million to $3 million. Most of these are market-rate apartments and part-time condos, so the expanded homestead exemption does not touch them.<\/p>\n

More is waiting. <\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Business Journal\u2019s Emma Behrmann reports<\/a> that developers want the Municipal Services Center and 801 First Ave. S. put out to bid. The 86 acres at Tropicana Field are still in play, and a development agreement is not expected before Council until summer 2027.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

St. Pete has to get through the first 18 months of Amendment 3. If those projects rise in year two and year three, the new tax revenue starts to offset what the exemption takes away.<\/p>\n

Building on that timeline requires City Hall to change how it thinks about development, which is where Crist comes in.<\/p>\n

Fast-track permitting, and put a shot clock on it so an application gets an answer in weeks. Put fire inspections on a schedule a builder and a lender can plan around. Run the zoning, building, and fire reviews at the same time, not one after another. Name one person in the Mayor\u2019s Office who owns every major project from application to certificate of occupancy and can break a tie between departments. Bid out the city-owned sites through an open RFP with enough time for serious developers to respond.<\/p>\n

Bradshaw notes Tallahassee takes 197 days to approve a residential permit and Orlando takes about seven. Crist should find St. Pete\u2019s number, publish it every quarter, and make someone answer for it.<\/p>\n

In 2009, facing an $18 million deficit, Rick Baker declared a fiscal emergency<\/a> and tried to freeze raises written into the city\u2019s union contracts. It was a well-considered move. It ran into a political buzzsaw anyway. Baker had won his second term with 70% of the vote, and even he had to back off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Crist does not have to declare an emergency. He does have to impose that sense of urgency on his new City Hall. <\/p>\n

The first Amendment 3 budget starts Oct. 1, 2027. The cranes should beat it there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My friend and mentor Paul Bradshaw has an op-ed in today\u2019s Tallahassee Democrat arguing that the Capital City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[133243,3347,2152,17222,176310,146010,13644,14559,3515,176311,98384,6169,7074,3301,202,204,203,199,1640,175637,201,200,232,8125],"class_list":["post-454664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-amendment-3","tag-charlie-crist","tag-development","tag-downtown-st-petersburg","tag-emma-behrmann","tag-graham-brink","tag-historic-gas-plant-district","tag-homestead-exemption","tag-jason-mathis","tag-municipal-services-center","tag-paul-bradshaw","tag-permitting","tag-property-taxes","tag-rick-baker","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-city-council","tag-st-petersburg-downtown-partnership","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tallahassee","tag-tropicana-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454664","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=454664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}