09/18/2026
🏠LET’S TALK ABOUT AMENDMENT 3 AND PROPERTY TAXES đźŹ
There’s been a lot of talk about what could happen to local services if Amendment 3 passes. I think we need to look at the numbers before assuming that property-tax relief automatically means cutting police, fire, or other essential services.
Amendment 3 would increase the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.
What does that mean for a typical homeowner?
Using Florida’s statewide average non-school tax rate, a qualifying homeowner with enough assessed value would save about $1,035 in 2027 and $2,085 PER YEAR beginning in 2028. Figures pulled from Florida TaxWatch.
That's roughly $174 a month back in the homeowner's pocket.
And that money doesn't disappear from the economy.
That's money that can go toward groceries, insurance, home repairs, restaurants, local businesses, savings, paying down debt, or simply helping a family keep up with the rising cost of living. The question is really who gets to decide where that money is spent—the homeowner or local government?
And here's something important: the larger homestead exemption is for qualifying PRIMARY residences. Second homes, vacation homes and rental/investment properties do not receive this increased homestead exemption. School property taxes are also NOT reduced by it.
Now let's bring this home to Osceola County. Our home.
Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia recently identified more than $165 MILLION in Osceola County spending that his office characterized as excessive or wasteful.
Meanwhile, Osceola County has estimated Amendment 3 could eventually, by 2028, reduce its annual property-tax revenue by roughly $94.5 MILLION.
So before the conversation immediately becomes, “We're going to have to cut police and firefighters,” I think taxpayers deserve a much deeper conversation.
Why wouldn't we first look for efficiencies, unnecessary spending, duplicative programs, administrative costs and other areas that can be reduced before touching essential public-safety services?
To be fair, $94.5 million is a significant amount of revenue, and local governments would have to adjust. But saying revenue will decline is different from saying police and fire must be cut. How government responds to that reduction is a budgeting decision.
Property taxes are also one of those expenses that never really goes away. You can spend 30 years paying off your mortgage and still have a substantial tax bill every single year just to remain in the home you already own.
For me, that's what makes this conversation bigger than simply taxes.
It's about making Florida—and in this case Osceola County—more affordable for the people who actually live here.
About $2,085 a year matters to a normal family.
And before essential services are threatened, we should be asking whether government is spending every dollar it already receives as efficiently as possible.
