What Florida Amendment 3 Could Mean for Your Community

How Would Eliminating Property Taxes Affect Florida?

Billions in funding lost statewide.

$505.9 million in funding at risk for the residents of Lee County over the first two years under Amendment 3.

"Constitutional Amendment No. 3 creates substantial uncertainty regarding the future funding of fire protection, emergency medical services, and disaster response without identifying a sustainable replacement revenue source."

What Amendment 3 will mean to Lee County residents

In Florida, local governments like schools, counties, municipalities, and special districts collect property taxes that fund critical public services. Amendment 3 puts these funds at risk. Below you can look at cuts to counties, municipalities, or special districts. Keep in mind, the impact will likely be greater as funding for some services falls within multiple categories.

FY-2028 Impact

-$177,110,500

FY-2029 Impact

-$328,812,500

Over First 2 Years

-$505,923,000

Funding at risk for public services under Amendment 3

County and Municipal Operations

FY-2028FY-27 FY-2029FY-28 Over 2 Years*2-Yrs*
County Operating -$76,272,600-$76.3M -$141,489,200-$141.5M -$217,761,800-$217.8M
Unincorporated Area Services -$7,624,000-$7.6M -$13,637,800-$13.6M -$21,261,800-$21.3M
Municipality Operating -$44,603,600-$44.6M -$83,270,300-$83.3M -$127,873,900-$127.9M
Municipality Debt -$1,002,600-$1M -$1,849,800-$1.8M -$2,852,400-$2.9M

Special Districts

FY-2028FY-27 FY-2029FY-28 Over 2 Years*2-Yrs*
Iona McGregor Fire Protection District -$4,300,700-$4.3M -$7,715,000-$7.7M -$12,015,700-$12M
Estero Fire Rescue District -$3,471,900-$3.5M -$7,121,900-$7.1M -$10,593,800-$10.6M
Bonita Springs Fire Control And Rescue District -$3,468,400-$3.5M -$6,990,700-$7M -$10,459,100-$10.5M
South Trail Fire District -$3,665,900-$3.7M -$6,780,700-$6.8M -$10,446,600-$10.4M
North Fort Myers Fire District -$3,137,100-$3.1M -$5,174,500-$5.2M -$8,311,600-$8.3M
San Carlos Park Fire District -$2,428,500-$2.4M -$4,587,300-$4.6M -$7,015,800-$7M
Fort Myers Shores Fire Protection District -$1,277,500-$1.3M -$2,476,100-$2.5M -$3,753,600-$3.8M
Matlacha Pine Island Fire Control District -$1,209,000-$1.2M -$2,258,100-$2.3M -$3,467,100-$3.5M
Lee County All Hazards Protection District -$1,050,400-$1.1M -$1,898,900-$1.9M -$2,949,300-$2.9M
Tice Fire District -$814,600-$814.6K -$1,350,800-$1.4M -$2,165,400-$2.2M
Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District -$587,200-$587.2K -$1,209,200-$1.2M -$1,796,400-$1.8M
Bayshore Fire & Rescue Service -$533,900-$533.9K -$968,600-$968.6K -$1,502,500-$1.5M
Sanibel Fire & Rescue District -$342,200-$342.2K -$750,000-$750K -$1,092,200-$1.1M
Cape Coral Fire Department -$329,500-$329.5K -$655,800-$655.8K -$985,300-$985.3K
Alva Fire Department -$309,700-$309.7K -$578,500-$578.5K -$888,200-$888.2K
Boca Grande Fire Control District -$95,000-$95K -$210,800-$210.8K -$305,800-$305.8K
Captiva Island Fire Control District -$23,000-$23K -$49,100-$49.1K -$72,100-$72.1K
Upper Captiva Fire District -$19,500-$19.5K -$41,100-$41.1K -$60,600-$60.6K
Useppa Island Fire Protection Unit MSTU -$17,200-$17.2K -$38,200-$38.2K -$55,400-$55.4K
Maravilla Fire District MSTU -$8,800-$8.8K -$11,100-$11.1K -$19,900-$19.9K
Lee County Library District -$8,357,400-$8.4M -$15,450,400-$15.5M -$23,807,800-$23.8M
Sanibel Public Library District -$123,000-$123K -$269,500-$269.5K -$392,500-$392.5K
Fort Myers Beach Public Library District -$34,300-$34.3K -$70,600-$70.6K -$104,900-$104.9K
South Florida WMD Okeechobee -$2,080,100-$2.1M -$3,858,500-$3.9M -$5,938,600-$5.9M
South Florida Water Management District -$1,921,900-$1.9M -$3,565,100-$3.6M -$5,487,000-$5.5M
West Coast Inland Navigation District -$798,800-$798.8K -$1,481,500-$1.5M -$2,280,300-$2.3M
South Florida WMD Everglades -$662,400-$662.4K -$1,229,400-$1.2M -$1,891,800-$1.9M
Lee County Hyacinth Control District -$389,100-$389.1K -$722,000-$722K -$1,111,100-$1.1M
San Carlos Park Improvement -$102,400-$102.4K -$169,100-$169.1K -$271,500-$271.5K
Town & River Improvement Unit -$20,100-$20.1K -$42,200-$42.2K -$62,300-$62.3K
Northeast Hurricane Bay Channel MSTU -$21,200-$21.2K -$39,900-$39.9K -$61,100-$61.1K
Captiva Erosion Prevention District -$3,800-$3.8K -$8,000-$8K -$11,800-$11.8K
Sewer Debt -$3,400-$3.4K -$7,500-$7.5K -$10,900-$10.9K

Mosquito Control

-$4,268,900-$4.3M -$7,913,900-$7.9M -$12,182,800-$12.2M

Lighting District

-$1,551,600-$1.6M -$2,562,200-$2.6M -$4,113,800-$4.1M
Whiskey Creek Club Estates -$115,600-$115.6K -$204,000-$204K -$319,600-$319.6K
Tanglewood Improvement Unit -$31,400-$31.4K -$54,300-$54.3K -$85,700-$85.7K
Riverdale Shores Improvement Unit -$24,400-$24.4K -$33,800-$33.8K -$58,200-$58.2K
McGregor Islands Special Improvement Unit -$6,100-$6.1K -$13,100-$13.1K -$19,200-$19.2K

Gasparilla Island Special Improvement District

-$1,800-$1.8K -$4,000-$4K -$5,800-$5.8K

The state fiscal year starts July 1 and ends June 30. For this reason, a fiscal year overlaps with two calendar years. The next fiscal year begins July 1, 2027, and ends June 30, 2028.

Amounts are rounded to the nearest $100. Line items where the 'Over 2 Years' amount has an absolute value of less than $1000 are included in totals, but not shown individually. Items may not sum exactly to totals due to rounding and suppression of small line items.

* To maintain consistency with the official state estimation methodology for this potential mid-year policy change, these values do not include the significant impact for the second half of fiscal year 2027.

Why the real impact may be larger

It is important to note that funding often overlaps across categories. Special districts have a narrow scope of services and can collect property taxes to fund their activities. Counties and municipalities also collect property taxes and can provide funding for these same services either through a special district or on their own. For example, some communities will have a special library district while others rely on a county or municipality to fund library services.

As another example, some Children’s Services and Trusts are funded by a county and not independently. While these programs would not appear as standalone special districts, they are folded into the county’s budget.

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This analysis uses the final 2025 real property tax roll NAL files from the Florida Department of Revenue and 2025 millage rates from each county to estimate parcel level property tax bills and the resulting revenue loss for each taxing authority from the proposed amendment.

Under the proposed changes permanent residents as of 12/31/2026 would have their second homestead exemption that applies to non-school assessed value increased to $150,000 in 2027, $250,000 in 2028, and indexed to inflation by CPI for 2029 and later. New permanent residents after 12/31/2026 would only be eligible for a smaller exemption of $50,000 for the first five years. Additionally, the proposal would reduce the limit on the growth of the non-school assessed value for non-homestead parcels from 10% to 5%.

For these estimates we use the 2025 homestead exemption status as a proxy for homestead eligibility under the proposal. We recalculate non-school taxable value for each year replacing the second homestead exemption by the applicable exemption amount under Amendment 3. We then determine the complete set of millage rates for each parcel, by matching on the Taxing Authority Code – a unique identifier for the overlapping set of authorities whose jurisdiction includes the parcel – with the 2025 millage rates from each county. From this, we multiply the non-school taxable value by the applicable non-school millage rates to estimate annual property tax bills under the proposal and compare them with current law to determine loss in revenue for each taxing jurisdiction.

Annual values are all adjusted to account for countywide assessed value growth projections from the Ad Valorem Estimating Conference and to incorporate several assumptions from the official Florida Revenue Estimating Conference analysis. These proportional countywide adjustments are designed to include the state’s estimated revenue impact of reducing the assessment cap for non-homestead properties from 10% to 5%, and in-migration of new permanent residents.

Minor adjustments were made to the Hospitals and Children's Services Councils & Trusts categories to incorporate prior additional analytical work in these categories by Florida Policy Institute.

For more information on the underlying assumptions of the Revenue Estimating Conference analysis see https://edr.state.fl.us/Content/conferences/revenueimpact/archives/2026F/_pdf/page682-699.pdf