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This story is part of the News Collaborative of Central Florida, an initiative of independent local news outlets working toward a more informed and engaged Central Florida.
The proposed property tax amendment that is supposed to go before voters in November is misleading, a Florida judge ruled Tuesday.
The judge is ordering the Florida attorney general to rewrite the ballot measure, which he says is full of “political taglines” that do more to make the amendment appealing for voters than actually tell them what the amendment will do.
Attorney General James Uthmeier has to submit the revised ballot language to the Florida Department of State within 10 days.
Anyone challenging the new ballot language has 10 days to do so once it’s submitted to the Department of State.
At least 60 percent of voters must approve the amendment on the November ballot for it to pass.
A group called Save Our Voters From Misleading Ballot Language sued the state over the amendment passed by the Florida Legislature earlier this year.
That amendment, titled “Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes,” would expand the homestead exemption to $150,000 starting in 2027, and to $250,000 beginning in 2028.
It also reduced the cap on increasing the tax assessment on non-homesteaded properties to 5 percent per year, and limits how local governments can use tax revenue to “core services,” which include: public safety (law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services), public schools, infrastructure (road and bridge construction and maintenance and stormwater control), natural resource projects (like flood control measures), fund county administration officers, and meet obligations for local government employees’ retirement benefits.
You can read the full ballot language HERE.
In his ruling, Judge David Frank said he can’t strike the amendment from the ballot, and he is not assessing the merit or wisdom of the amendment. His job is simply to determine whether the ballot title and summary “pass muster under longstanding Florida law that demands fairness and accuracy in its description before placement on the ballot.”
“They fail both prerequisites and must be rewritten,” the judge added.
Frank ruled the ballot title and summary are full of “political taglines” that give reasons for voters to say yes to the amendment, but that is not the purpose of the title and summary. The purpose is to explain what the amendment does, not advocate for its adoption.
In one example, Frank writes, “The summary states that the amendment is ‘Ensuring funding for core services’ because it ‘requires local governments to use remaining property taxes solely for core public needs.’ Yet the proposed amendment does not ‘ensure’ funding for police, fire protection, schools, infrastructure, or any other ‘core’ public service, nor does it create any new restrictions on how property tax revenues may be expended. In fact, by substantially reducing the local property tax base, the proposed amendment is likely to decrease the revenues available to local governments to fund core services. The amendment cannot fairly or accurately be described as ‘ensuring funding.’”
Frank also says the ballot summary claims the amendment will ultimately lead to the full elimination of non-school property taxes on homestead property. Except the amendment does not require “full elimination.”
“Rather, it would require the Legislature to establish procedures through which local governments may choose to grant additional exemptions in the future ‘up to’ the full assessed valuation,” Frank writes.
Frank also points out that the ballot summary omits the fact that the amendment proposes “major change[s] in the function of government” by giving the Legislature the right to control ad valorem tax spending, thus changing the home rule powers local governments currently enjoy under Florida’s constitution.
Florida’s property tax system is a multi-level system that includes homesteaded and non-homesteaded properties.
Homesteaded properties are primary homes that get a special exemption. Annual tax assessments are also capped at 3 percent each year, which means people who have owned their homes a long time are more likely to enjoy lower property taxes than newer neighbors across the street.
“So, for example, if you live in your home for 10 years, you bought it for $100,000, you then live in it for the 10 years, and it’s worth $300,000,” Orange County Property Appraiser Amy Mercado told News 6 in an interview earlier this year.
“The savings between your market and your assessed value for those 10 years, you have the opportunity to take with you,” Mercado said. “The person that buys your home doesn’t pay the (tax) rate that you’re paying. You may be at $1,000… a year in taxes because of the years you’ve been in it. You bought it at $100,000, and it slowly progressed. That person is going to pay on the $300,000 mark because it resets as soon as you sell.”
Non-homesteaded properties include any primary homeowner who has not filed for a homestead exemption, along with vacation homes, rental properties, and business properties.
According to the Florida Association of Counties, 55 of 67 counties have lowered or maintained their operating millage rates since 2020. Millage rates are the tax rates used to calculate local property taxes.
However, Florida TaxWatch says property tax levies have risen 108.1 percent from 2014 to 2024, while population and inflation rose 54.9 percent.
How is that possible?
Because property values have exploded, particularly in the last six years. In January 2014, the average home price in the Orlando market was $166,339, according to the Beracha-Johnson Housing Ranking Index, an index managed by the American Real Estate Society.
In May 2024, which was the high point in the Orlando housing market, the average price was $410,853, according to the index.
At the time, the Orlando market was one of the most overvalued in the country, as were the markets in Tampa and South Florida.
In fact, News 6 published a story in July 2023 that Orlando was the 13th most overvalued market in the country. At the time, the median home price in Orlando was $385,000.
The Orlando market has since dropped to the 52nd most overvalued market in the country.
Property values are a key factor in determining property tax bills.
The most vocal critics of the property tax amendment are county and city governments, particularly in communities that do not have a diverse property tax base.
In a report by the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, local governments would lose nearly $5 billion in revenue the first year, and nearly $12 billion in the fifth year.
The Florida Association of Counties offers a breakdown HERE of the data by county.
Volusia County, for instance, would lose nearly a quarter of its property tax revenues in year two if the amendment passes, 24.9 percent.
Marion County would lose 28.36 percent of its levy in year two. Sumter County would lose 28.34 percent. Flagler County would lose 26.28 percent, Brevard County would lose 26.59 percent, Lake County would lose 26.11 percent, and Seminole County would lose 24.43 percent.
Orange and Osceola counties, which have a larger percentage of their tax revenue in non-homesteaded properties, would fare better. Orange County would lose only 13.56 percent of its tax revenue in year two. Osceola County would lose 15.14 percent.
Cities also stand to lose because a greater portion of their tax rolls rely on ad valorem taxes. The Florida League of Cities also points out that its governments already, on average, spend more on public safety than they take in from property taxes.
On Monday, the Florida Sheriffs Association became the latest public safety group to speak out against the amendment, joining the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police, Florida Professional Firefighters, and the Florida Fire Chiefs Association.
The amendment “potentially allows Tallahassee to control your local budgets, creates longer law enforcement times, limits communities’ abilities to provide road repairs and stormwater removal – these are a few of the things voters need to be aware of,” the FSA statement reads.
