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Updated: Oct. 28, 2025
Oakland Mayor Shane Taylor delivered sobering news during Wednesday’s State of the Town, held at the Healthy West Orange Arts and Heritage Center. If a measure to remove property taxes ends up on the 2026 ballot and passes, the town stands to lose $2.2 million in revenue.
The town, Taylor said, has a total budget of $29.9 million for fiscal year 2025-2026. The general fund, which covers operations for the town, contains $11 million. Ad valorem taxes generate $5.9 million of the general fund while residential property taxes account for $4.4 million of the ad valorem taxes. Protective services, like police and fire, cost the town $5.5 million, Taylor said.
“The homestead property tax is 50 percent of the total asset’s value,” Taylor said. “In order to keep these entities, we would need to forfeit town services such as capital improvements, events, staff, et cetera, if and when the issue ends up on the ballot.”
Assessing non-ad valorem fees to offset protective services costs could be another option Taylor told VoxPopuli after his speech.
“Please, do us all a favor and educate yourself about this issue,” he said to attendees, before moving on with the remainder of the program.
Oakland is not alone in this. VoxPopuli checked with Winter Garden's city manager Jon Williams who said that the city stood to lose a whopping $14.4 million if residential property taxes were eliminated. That's 21 percent of the city's general fund, he said, and would result in critical cuts to city services. Ocoee's assistant city manager Mike Rumer told VoxPopuli they were looking at a $10 million to $11 million loss, about 45 percent of the city's general fund, while Windermere's town manager, Robert Smith, said the town could lose $4 million from its general fund.
