$2.94 BILLION
Estimated Annual revenue loss for county governments in year one.
(Source: FAC Reader Guide)
The constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot is officially titled “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-homestead Property Assessments”
The amendment cuts the largest source of funding for critical local services and provides no replacement revenue.
Counties remain legally required to deliver the same services to the same residents.
Raises the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. A future Legislature is directed to increase the exemption or phase out the rest on a schedule it sets later.
Reduces the assessment cap on non-homestead property from 10 percent to 5 percent. The amendment includes a five-year waiting period before new Florida residents qualify for the expanded exemption.
Anyone who had not established permanent Florida residency as of December 31, 2026 is limited to the existing $50,000 exemption for five years, regardless of when they purchase a home. For example, a military family relocating to Florida in 2027 must wait five years before receiving the benefit.
Provides no funding mechanism to replace lost revenue, most of which flows to public safety and critical infrastructure. While the funding to deliver these services is strangled, counties remain legally obligated to provide them.
Estimated Annual revenue loss for county governments in year one.
(Source: FAC Reader Guide)
Estimated annual revenue loss by year two.
(Source: FAC Reader Guide)
Florida counties already spend the equivalent of 85 cents of every property tax dollar on public safety.
Number of Florida counties where public safety is the single largest budget item.
(FAC August 2025, FY2024 data)
The amendment collapses the tax base. Counties can raise millage rates in response, but on a dramatically smaller base. Rate increases alone cannot close an $8.4 billion hole—the math simply does not add up.
That means an $8.4 billion cut in year two cannot be absorbed without reducing what counties spend on public safety and other critical services.
The amendment is called “Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes.” There’s a lot that the ballot title leaves out. Here’s what it actually does: The property tax amendment would slash billions in funding that keeps deputies on patrol and fire stations open.
The amendment would shift costs onto renters, small businesses, and shoppers. And it would give Tallahassee the power to decide what your community gets to keep.
FROM 2022-2025
FROM 2021-2023
Sources: Insurance Journal, 6/17/25, Fox 13 News, 1/3/24
LIMITED TO
3%
ANNUALLY FOR HOMESTEADED PROPERTIES—OR LESS, IF INFLATION IS LOWER.
Source: Florida Department of Revenue
This amendment removes the largest source of local revenue but does not reduce the cost of the services Floridians depend on.
In some places, that means cuts to core services. In others, higher taxes and fees. In most places, both. When counties run out of options, the pressure shifts to Tallahassee for a sales tax hike, or other sources of funding.
29 Florida counties are already so fiscally constrained that a cut of this size leaves them with no options. To keep deputies on patrol and ambulances on the road, they will be forced to seek massive subsidies from Tallahassee every year.
The other 38 counties won’t escape either. Their taxpayers will ultimately absorb the difference through higher fees, higher rates on businesses and rental properties, and higher costs passed through to renters and consumers.
Right now, the officials who decide how much to tax and spend can be thrown out of office. This amendment changes that. The bills don’t go away. They just get sent by politicians in a distant capital. That’s not tax relief. It’s just less accountability.
The authors of this amendment say public safety is protected. It is not. Counties facing billions in cuts cannot maintain current public safety budgets, let alone grow them. New deputies don’t get hired. Equipment ages past replacement. Response times slow.
Constitutional officers like sheriffs, tax collectors, property appraisers, supervisors of elections and clerks of court compete for a shrinking share of remaining dollars. None of them can stop doing the work the state requires them to do, but none will have the resources to do it well.
Hurricane response, drainage, clean water and roads become the first places counties must look for room. The services that aren’t constitutionally named are the easiest to defer.
The mission of Escambia County government is to provide efficient, responsive services that enhance our quality of life, meet common needs and promote a safe and healthy community.
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