ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 News 6 aired a live, one-hour primetime special Monday night, bringing together four experts to answer viewer questions about Florida\u2019s proposed property tax overhaul ahead of the November election.<\/p>\n
The event, \u201cA Community Conversation: Property Taxes,\u201d featured a studio audience and fielded questions from viewers at home about Amendment 3 \u2014 a measure that would dramatically expand Florida\u2019s homestead exemption but could cost local governments billions in lost revenue.<\/p>\n
Watch the full special on ClickOrlando.com<\/a> : Part 1<\/a> | Part 2<\/a> | Part 3<\/a> | Part 4<\/a> | Part 5<\/a><\/p>\n Meet the experts<\/p>\n The panel included:<\/p>\n Caroline Melear, Director of Finance and Insurance at R Street<\/a> Institute, a public policy think tank<\/p>\n [WATCH: Part 1: Answers to your questions about Amendment 3]<\/p>\n What is Amendment 3?<\/p>\n Amendment 3, also known as HJR 1F<\/a>, would increase the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 \u2014 indexed to inflation after that. Right now, only the first $25,000 and a portion between $50,000 and $75,000 of a home\u2019s assessed value are exempt from property taxes.<\/p>\n To become law, the measure needs at least 60% approval from voters on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n Under the current system, Florida homeowners receive two layers of protection:<\/p>\n The first $25,000 of assessed value is exempt from all property taxes<\/p>\n Between $50,000 and $75,000, the value is exempt from non-school taxes<\/p>\n Everything else is taxable<\/p>\n Amendment 3 would replace that structure \u2014 for non-school taxes only \u2014 with a much larger exemption:<\/p>\n 2027: First $150,000 of assessed value exempt<\/p>\n 2028: First $250,000 of assessed value exempt<\/p>\n 2029 and beyond: First $250,000, adjusted for inflation<\/p>\n The expanded exemption applies to Florida permanent residents who are already homesteaded before Jan. 1, 2027.<\/p>\n New residents would receive a different, five-year exemption: the first $25,000 exempt from school taxes and the next $25,000 exempt from non-school taxes. After five years, they would qualify for the full higher exemption.<\/p>\n The amendment would also cut the annual non-homestead property assessment growth cap from 10% to 5%, limiting how much commercial and rental properties can be assessed each year.<\/p>\n [WATCH: Part 2: Answers to your questions about Amendment 3]<\/p>\n How local governments could spend property tax money<\/p>\n The amendment doesn\u2019t just change exemptions \u2014 it also restricts how cities and counties can use property tax dollars, limiting spending to:<\/p>\n Public safety (law enforcement, EMS, fire services)<\/p>\n Education and public schools<\/p>\n Infrastructure (roads, bridges, stormwater)<\/p>\n Natural resource and flood control projects<\/p>\n Bond payments and debt service<\/p>\n Local government employee retirement benefits<\/p>\n Operations of county officers and commissioners<\/p>\n [WATCH: Part 3: Answers to your questions about Amendment 3]<\/p>\n Cities warn of real consequences<\/p>\n On Monday, Orlando officials presented their proposed fiscal year 2027 budget and recommended a hiring freeze \u2014 leaving vacant positions unfilled \u2014 if Amendment 3 passes. That freeze would continue through fiscal years 2028 and 2029.<\/p>\n Mayor Buddy Dyer said Orlando\u2019s property tax revenue already falls about $58 million short of what it costs to fund public safety services, and warned that planned projects could be canceled.<\/p>\n \u201cPrograms that residents value may be scaled back,\u201d Dyer said. \u201cAnd that is not a prediction. Not wild alarmism. It\u2019s the reality of municipal finance. No different than your household budget.\u201d<\/p>\n In Sanford, Mayor Art Woodruff said his city could lose about $15.3 million in property tax revenue over two years if the amendment passes \u2014 roughly a third of the city\u2019s total property tax base and about 18% of its overall tax revenue.<\/p>\n An analysis by the Seminole County Property Appraiser projects Sanford\u2019s taxable value would drop by $819 million in 2027 and $1.3 billion in 2028 under the new exemption structure.<\/p>\n \u201cTo cut 18% in two years is going to be tough,\u201d Woodruff said. \u201cWe\u2019ve done it before. Back in 2008, we had a huge hit on the economy. We cut \u2014 we didn\u2019t cut staff. We cut their hours. They were paid less.\u201d<\/p>\n Woodruff said public safety is the top priority to protect, but that residents would feel cuts elsewhere \u2014 starting with parks and maintenance.<\/p>\n \u201cSomebody contacted me this week that they were concerned about pickleball nets at one of our parks, and they\u2019re being held together with zip ties,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat will happen is the nets will just come down.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanford commissioners are also weighing a fire assessment fee to offset potential revenue losses, though no final decision has been made.<\/p>\n [WATCH: Part 4: Answers to your questions about Amendment 3]<\/p>\n The statewide price tag<\/p>\n According to nonprofit research institute Florida Tax Watch, Amendment 3 is expected to reduce local property taxes statewide by more than $45 billion over five years:<\/p>\n Fiscal YearProjected Revenue LossFY 2027\u201328$4.93 billionFY 2028\u201329$8.71 billionFY 2029\u201330$9.65 billionFY 2030\u201331$10.71 billionFY 2031\u201332$11.83 billion<\/p>\n [WATCH: Part 5: Answers to your questions about Amendment 3]<\/p>\n Orange County is projected to lose $2.82 billion over five years. Seminole County faces a projected $913.7 million loss. Miami-Dade tops the list at $5.16 billion.<\/p>\n Amendment 3 will appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Voters must approve the measure by at least 60% for it to take effect. Watch the full \u201cA Community Conversation: Property Taxes\u201d special on ClickOrlando.com<\/a> : Part 1<\/a> | Part 2<\/a> | Part 3<\/a> | Part 4<\/a> | Part 5<\/a><\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 News 6 aired a live, one-hour primetime special Monday night, bringing together four experts to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[364700,364692,364711,4,450,364693,13961,178992,364702,364691,364696,364707,364710,364694,364698,364701,451,364708,364695,364709,3,6011,364706,364697,364704,364699,364703,364705,452,453],"class_list":["post-864481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-2026-florida-ballot-measure","tag-a-community-conversation-property-taxes-news-6","tag-amendment-3-florida","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-clickorlando-com-property-tax-special","tag-election","tag-election-2026","tag-fire-assessment-fee","tag-florida-amendment-3","tag-florida-ballot-amendment-november-2026","tag-florida-local-government-revenue-loss","tag-florida-property-tax-amendment","tag-florida-property-tax-special","tag-florida-tax-watch-amendment-3","tag-florida-tax-watch-analysis","tag-headlines","tag-hjr-1f","tag-hjr-1f-florida","tag-homestead-exemption-increase","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orange-county-tax-impact","tag-orlando-budget-cuts-property-tax","tag-orlando-budget-hiring-freeze","tag-property-tax-reform-florida","tag-sanford-property-tax-losses","tag-seminole-county-tax-impact","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}