Guest commentary: Property tax reform amendment on ballot
In an abbreviated two-day special session on June 1-2 to discuss property tax reform, the Legislature passed the governor’s proposed state constitutional amendment to increase the existing property tax homestead exemption from the current $50,000 to an eventual $250,000. The amendment, which will appear on the November ballot, will require an increase in the homestead exemption to $150,000 on Jan. 1, 2027, and then to $250,000 on Jan. 1, 2028, with consumer price index (CPI) increases after that. New residents as of 2027 will be eligible for the existing $50,000 homestead exemption but will have to wait five years to qualify for the $250,000 property tax exemption.
The measure exempts property taxes for schools and caps assessment increases on non-homesteaded properties from the existing rate of 10% to 5% per year. The Legislature also added an amendment to remove the governor’s initial language requiring a trust fund be created to help local governments provide essential services if they could no longer afford to do so. This removal was due to a dedicated lack of funding and will be addressed in a future legislative session.
Another change added to the proposal was to broaden the original language of what local governments could spend their property tax revenue on. Originally described as “core services,” the Legislature amended spending to “anything that was allowed by state law.” This change may lead to a legal challenge because the approved bill does not match the original proposed ballot summary.
Opponents of the measure claim the debate was rushed and did not include any state fiscal analysis, which would be required of any other legislation of this magnitude. They state that the loss of revenue to cities and counties, which could be 20-30% of their current budgets, will create more of a cost shift than a cost savings. They argue the measure could result in potentially higher user fees and insurance costs should fire protections be reduced. Critics also contend that this is yet another move by the state to eliminate home rule since the loss of property tax revenues may force cities and counties to raise fees to cover some essential services — fees that are regulated by the state.
Programs are already at risk due to the mere threat of this ballot question passing. One with direct impacts to Southwest Florida is the successful Lee County Conservation 20/20 land acquisition program. Because of the potential loss of revenue to fund essential services, the 20/20 program will likely go unfunded for the second year in a row, and could be permanently unfunded should the measure pass in November.
For more analysis on the impacts of the property tax ballot measure, you can visit “The Real November Ballot Question,” from the non-partisan, nonprofit research organization Tax Foundation based in Washington, D.C., at https://taxfoundation.org/blog/florida-property-tax-proposal/.
GOVERNOR TO REVIEW PASSED BUDGET
The governor has the month of June to review and apply the line-item veto process to the $114.5 billion budget approved by the Legislature in the recent special session. The budget must be finalized before July 1, the beginning of the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) will post the governor’s veto list on our Legislative Tracker at https://sccf.org/what-we-do/2026-legislative-session as soon as it’s available.
The Legislature went home after the special session, but there were still several bills passed in the regular legislative session that had not been formally presented to the governor for his signature as of June 5. Of the 236 bills that were passed this session, 114 remained to be signed, vetoed or passed without the governor’s signature by July 1.
The SCCF will share a 2026 Legislative Session Summary once the budget has been approved.
Holly Schwartz is policy associate for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF). Founded in 1967, the SCCF’s mission is to protect and care for Southwest Florida’s coastal ecosystems. For more information, visit sccf.org.