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# Florida Amendment 3 Carries $11.86 Billion Recurring Revenue Impact
- URL: https://www.theamericanquorum.com/state-news-florida-2026-10-03-b/
- Published: 2026-10-03T19:43:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-03T19:43:39.000Z
- Description: Florida voters will decide whether to raise the non-school homestead exemption to $250,000 and halve the assessment-growth cap on other property, changes officially estimated to reduce recurring local revenue by $11.86 billion.
- Author: News Desk
- Tags: Politics, Florida

Florida voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to approve a sweeping property-tax amendment that would raise the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $250,000, cut the assessment-growth cap on non-homestead property in half and reshape how local governments may use property-tax revenue.

The measure appears as Amendment 3 in the Florida Department of State’s [official constitutional-amendment booklet](https://dos.fl.gov/media/711369/eng-2026-booklet-constitutional-amendpub-updated-20260903.pdf?ref=theamericanquorum.com). It requires at least 60% voter approval, the threshold Florida applies to constitutional amendments. If it passes, most provisions take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

## What would change

For existing permanent residents, the exemption from county, city and special-district property taxes would increase to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, then adjust for inflation. School-district taxes would remain outside the expanded exemption. The [enrolled legislative text](https://www.flhouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?BillNumber=1&DocumentType=Bill&FileName=%5Fh0001Fer.docx&Session=2026F&ref=theamericanquorum.com) delays the larger exemption for people who were not Florida residents on Dec. 31, 2026, generally until their fifth year of homestead eligibility.

The amendment would also lower the annual assessment-growth cap for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. It directs the Legislature to create a uniform process allowing counties and municipalities to expand the exemption further, potentially to the property’s full assessed value. Special districts could do so only after a referendum.

A separate provision identifies permitted uses for county and municipal property taxes, including public safety, schools, infrastructure, natural resources, bond payments, employee retirement benefits and government operations. The ballot language also allows governing bodies to approve other spending unless state law prohibits it.

## The fiscal tradeoff

The Legislature’s [final fiscal summary](https://www.flhouse.gov/meeting-bill-summary-report?CommitteeId=3302&MeetingId=15221&SessionId=122&ref=theamericanquorum.com) estimates a $4.95 billion cash reduction in local non-school property-tax revenue in fiscal 2027-28 and an $8.78 billion reduction in 2028-29\. The estimated recurring impact reaches $11.86 billion, assuming current millage rates.

Those figures describe revenue that local governments would not collect under existing rates; they do not determine how each government would respond. Officials could consider spending changes, legally available fees or tax-rate decisions within the new constitutional framework.

The impact would vary by community. In a newly published local analysis, [Palm Coast estimated](https://www.palmcoast.gov/newsroom/home/details/proposed-property-tax-amendment?ref=theamericanquorum.com) reductions of about $12.4 million in 2027 and $21.7 million in 2028, while stressing that the projections could change and that no service reductions have been decided. Property taxes currently provide roughly $45.5 million of the city’s general fund.

The proposal’s immediate benefit would be lower taxable values for qualifying homeowners and slower assessment growth for rentals, commercial sites and other non-homestead property. Its central budget question is whether the savings to property owners justify the resulting constraint on local revenue and the adjustments governments may make afterward.

[Recent voter guidance](https://www.clickorlando.com/news/florida/2026/10/02/heres-what-to-know-about-floridas-newest-amendment-proposals/?ref=theamericanquorum.com) emphasizes that Amendment 3 is one of three statewide constitutional questions. Voters are not deciding their 2026 tax bills: the changes would begin with 2027 assessments if the amendment receives the required supermajority.