Florida House of Representatives

Saying the language of a planned November referendum on Florida local property taxes was inaccurate, a Florida judge rejected the language Monday night. 

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The referendum would ask voters to adopt that would be expected to slash property tax revenue many local governments depend upon.

The proposed language, increasing the homestead exemption for many Florida homeowners, presents the referendum in a positive, rather than neutral light, and is inaccurate in several ways, said Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit Judge David Frank. “The court declares that the title and summary of the present ballot statement are clearly and conclusively defective,” Frank said. 

He ordered Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to revise the language consistent with his decision.

Uthmeier didn’t immediately respond to a request for a comment. A spokeswoman for the other defendant, Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, said he had no comment.

Charles Chapman, legislative advocate for Florida League of Cities, said in June, “Florida cities have hundreds of millions of dollars in outstanding bonds that are legally required to be repaid using non-ad valorem revenues (not property taxes).

“Limiting the use of property tax revenue reduces the financial flexibility cities rely on to meet these obligations…. As a result, cities may face lower credit ratings [and] higher borrowing costs,” Chapman said.

“Floridians deserve to know exactly what’s at stake and the clearly deceptive language was hiding what our communities would lose,” said Jackson Peel, communications director for Save Our Services – No on 3. “Amendment 3 [would lead to] a tax shift benefitting the wealthy while raising costs or cutting services for Florida’s working families and seniors.

“We applaud the court’s ruling and we encourage the attorney general to give the voters clear, fair and honest language on their ballots as the law requires,” Peel said. 

Passage of the referendum would substantially increase the homestead property tax exemption in 2027 and 2028. The measure would change the state constitution to increase the exemption in 2027 to $150,000 from $50,000 and to $250,000 the next year, with a goal of increasing it to $500,000 ultimately. 

Homestead property exemptions currently apply to the first $25,000 of assessed value, with a second $25,000 exemption, which doesn’t apply to school district taxes. 

The measure would index the exemptions to the annual consumer price index. School taxes would be exempt from the changes. 

The proposed amendment would also reduce the cap on annual increases for non-homestead properties to 5% from 10%. 

“This amendment to eliminate property taxes will hand massive tax breaks to billionaires and large corporations, leaving hard working families, seniors and small businesses to pay for it,” Florida House Democratic Caucus Leader Fentrice Driskell said. “This is not a tax break but a tax shift that will cause new fees, higher taxes, and cuts to essential local services.”