TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – From Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan to Republican controlled Clay County, leaders across the Jacksonville area are voicing concerns about local budget reductions that could result from a major property tax cut plan devised by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis put his plan to Florida lawmakers during a special session that started on Monday. After making some tweaks, the House passed the Save Our Homes amendment proposal 75-26, and the Senate passed it 30-9.
Now it will be up to voters to decide. The amendment needs 60% approval from voters to go into effect.
According to the House website, the amendment will revise limitations on annual assessment increases for specified real property, increase homestead exemptions, provide limitations on the use of ad valorem taxes levied by counties & municipalities, & provide an effective date.
House and Senate committees tweaked the governor’s proposal to reduce impacts to local governments and school districts, which rely on the revenue.
During the debates on the issue, local government representatives pleaded with lawmakers not to impose such a large cut to their revenues.
The plan is drawing concern from some residents and local leaders who say the money still has to come from somewhere, and could leave counties, cities, and schools with fewer resources for services.
Now that the measure is going on the ballot, local leaders will have to take those concerns to the voters, who will make the ultimate decision on whether to pass the cuts.
As the Legislature began debating the proposal, leaders from Clay County, a Republican-dominated county, warned in a statement that the changes could mean less funding for everyday services and fewer local choices.
Jack Cory, a lobbyist whose clients include Jacksonville Beach, told the House committee the “unstudied” proposal will be made up with fees and is simply “a get out of vote drive in ’26, not caring what happens in your communities in ’27.”
And the Jacksonville Mayor’s Office shared the following statement:
“The homestead exemption bill currently being debated in the Florida Legislature would have a significant impact on the city’s budget. We are closely monitoring progress of the proposal, which would still need to be approved by voters with a 60% threshold in the November election. As it stands now, property tax revenue barely covers Jacksonville’s police and fire costs. Eliminating or dramatically changing this funding source will hurt public safety efforts, as well as core services that improve quality of life and affordability.”
Democrats warned DeSantis’ measure could “bankrupt” local governments, and GOP members of the House State Affairs Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee amended the bill (HJR 1F/SJR 2F) to carve out the effect on school districts.
Before the bills were changed, local governments were projected to lose $8.4 billion in revenue per year, with firefighters warning of up to 25% cuts.
“What this is going to do, and what the governor has put forward in his proposal, and what we believe Floridians have a right to make a determination about, is whether or not the revenue coming into local governments is where it should be,” said Rep. Sam Garrison, R-Fleming Island, who is slated to be the House Speaker after the November elections.
Under the measure, the current $50,000 property tax exemption would increase to $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028, but it wouldn’t apply to school districts’ levies.
Future legislators would be allowed to further expand the exemption.
Sanibel City Councilmember Holly Smith, president of the Florida League of Cities, said the overall proposal is a tax shift.
“When homesteaded properties come off the tax roll, the cost of services they don’t disappear; it shifts to businesses and non-homesteaded properties,” Smith said.
A House staff analysis put the drop in revenue at $4.6 billion a year to non-school governments, growing to $8.4 billion a year.
House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, envisioned the “creation, frankly, of welfare counties, particularly where you have the smaller rural counties and the fiscally constrained counties who would have to come to the state and be made whole.”
But supporters of the measure pointed to skyrocketing tax bills for homeowners in recent years and noted voters still get a say.
“What are we afraid of? That we pass this and the voters actually get a choice?” said Sen. Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers. “If they want lower taxes, they can vote yes; if they don’t want lower taxes, they can vote no.”
The bill would also lower the current 10% cap on annual assessment increases for non-homestead properties, which include vacation and investment homes and apartments and commercial properties.
It would also limit the use of property taxes to core services that include fire, police, stormwater, education, infrastructure and the constitutional offices, such as supervisors of elections, property appraisers and tax collectors.
Both committees removed a provision from DeSantis’ proposal to create a trust fund to assist small, rural counties.
Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, noted there was no dedicated source of money for the trust fund, which on the ballot would confuse voters who might think money would automatically be set aside in case of a shortage.
“Here we have the permission to set up an empty bank account,” Grall said.
The House passed a proposal earlier in the year to eliminate non-school property taxes for homestead owners, but the Senate didn’t go along.
The Florida Association of Counties put the collective revenue hit to the state’s 67 counties at $3.6 billion in fiscal year 2027-2028 and $6.4 billion in fiscal year 2028-2029.
Republicans rejected Democratic amendments to sunset the changes in 2031 or to include water management districts as an allowed use for property taxes.