HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — At the Florida League of Cities convention in Hollywood Friday, local officials from across the state say they’re all bracing for whether or not in November their residents will vote to take away a lot of the property tax revenue that funds their cities.
In a room Friday, mostly preaching to the choir, supporters were rallying the people who run your cities to make sure their residents know the costs of voting away property taxes.
“I think there has to be an education,” Crestview Councilman Sylvester Echols said. “The people have to understand exactly what Amendment 3 is.”
An advertisement projected onto a screen at the convention previewed their messaging: “Follow the math, not the magic trick.”
The measure would raise the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.
State analysts say local governments would lose in upwards of $12 billion annually.
Exactly what Amendment 3 is will now be detailed on the November ballot in a rewrite a Leon County judge ordered from the attorney general.
The original ballot language, “Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes,” he called “clear and conclusively defective” — more like a sales pitch.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has said, “I think people will be able to see this is a major additional protection for their homestead property.”
The governor is promoting it, but back at the League of Cities, leaders said the rewrite still does not address their concerns.
“This still doesn’t address the issues with the bill, but the ballot language makes it a little more honest,” Sebastian Councilman Chris Nunn said.
Most are scrambling to plan for police and fire salaries and pensions, water services, garbage pickup, roads, libraries and more.
“There are ways to lower property taxes and there’s ways to do it the wrong way,” Steve Vancore, with the “No on 3” campaign, said. “This is telling government ‘You need to lose 10 pounds and we’re going to cut your leg off.’”
“I mean, I am pro-lowering taxes, property taxes,” Sunny Isles Beach Commissioner Alex Lama said. “But there’s got to be a better way of going about it.”
One survey found that if Amendment 3 were on the ballot today, it would edge past the 60% required threshold. But once informed about the effects and consequences, only 45% supported the measure.
That survey showed it’s mostly favored by Republicans and conservatives. That does not, however, include the well-known conservative Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who recently called the measure a “train wreck.”
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