Matt Austin, Anchor
Robert Breuer, Special Projects Producer
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Matt Austin, Anchor
Robert Breuer, Special Projects Producer
SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – Reactions to Amendment 3 are all over the place.
On one side, you have homeowners who can’t wait for the savings. “That’s thousands of dollars in my pocket going toward my family, going toward my kids,” one homeowner told News 6.
On the other, you have local leaders who see disaster coming. “It’s a train wreck,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. “It doesn’t look anything like what Governor DeSantis sent over.”
So which is it — a break for families, or a hit to the services those same families rely on? To find out, News 6 took a deep-dish dive into Seminole County’s numbers. With a little help from a large cheese pizza.
Amendment 3 goes before Florida voters on Nov. 3, and like any constitutional amendment, it needs 60% approval to pass.
If it does, the homestead exemption on your primary residence would climb from about $50,000 today to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028 — meaning a larger share of your home’s value would be shielded from property taxes.
But there’s a catch, the bigger exemption applies only to non-school taxes. The portion of your bill that funds schools stays exactly the same.
The amendment would also tighten the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property — second homes, rentals and commercial buildings — from 10% down to 5%.
It’s already been a fight. A Leon County judge ruled the original ballot wording misleading, and the state rewrote it in August; voters will now see it titled “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments.” Governor Ron DeSantis, who pushed for the property tax relief, has distanced himself from the version the Legislature ultimately sent to the ballot.
“I don’t think you’re going to see me leading on this particular proposal, because while I support it, I do think it’s not all that I was hoping to see,” DeSantis said at a recent press conference.
DeSantis also took to social media to highlight the differences between his plan and theirs.
“The Legislature’s measure is different from my proposal in significant respects (i.e., it doesn’t provide for the elimination of taxes on homesteads and it doesn’t create a fund to provide state grants to local governments to assist with core services as homestead taxes are phased out),” DeSantis wrote.
The savings are real. For a Seminole County homeowner with a house worth more than $250,000, Amendment 3 would mean about $1,912 a year back in their pocket, according to the Seminole County Property Appraiser’s office.
But that money has to come from somewhere — and where it comes from is local budgets.
“The ones that are really going to get devastated are going to be the cities, like Oviedo and Winter Springs here in Seminole County,” Property Appraiser J.R. Kroll said. “They will not be able to afford a police force anymore, or the fire, because it’s just too big of a cut.”
Seminole County leaders estimate Seminole County alone would lose roughly $188 million in the first two years.
And unlike a normal budget line, this one is nearly impossible to walk back. “You have that genie out of the bottle, it’s out, and in order to get it back, we would have to have another 60% vote to say, ‘Yes, please tax us more,’” Kroll said.
Here’s how it all breaks down. Picture your entire property tax bill as one pizza.
The first half or so — depending on your county — goes straight to schools. Amendment 3 doesn’t touch that half. You’ll keep paying it either way.
The other half is what’s at stake. And within that half, the priorities aren’t equal:
About 70% of that chunk funds public safety in Seminole County— police, fire, and EMS. Those services get first claim on the money. But “first claim” isn’t a guarantee.
The remaining 30% is where the toughest choices land. This is the slice that covers public transit, parks and libraries — and it’s the piece most likely to get eaten first.
But even if Amendment 3 passes, your savings may not survive.
Many local governments are already weighing new fees and higher millage rates to cover the gap the amendment would open up.
New Smyrna Beach, Sanford, Ocoee, Deltona, and St. Cloud have all considered new fees.
Cape Canaveral and Apopka have proposed property tax increases.
Those moves could cannibalize the very savings the amendment promises. This could leave homeowners with a smaller break than the sticker number suggests.
Voters decide Nov. 3.
Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.
Emmy Award-winning anchor Matt Austin joined the News 6 team in June 2011 and has been the evening news co-anchor since December 2013.
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Robert Breuer is an accomplished Special Projects Producer and Videographer, as well as a two-time Emmy Award winner.
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Amendment 3: Tax cut or ticking time bomb? – WKMG
