108 Florida cities lose 90% or more of their homestead tax base. There's no bill, no session date and no replacement money. The plan is written into the amendment itself: one line that hands Tallahassee control of every local dollar.
By Joseph Jackson · ST. PETERSBURG (Mon., Nov. 9, 2026)
The short version
In 108 of Florida's 411 cities, at least 90% of homestead taxable value comes off the rolls under Amendment 3's $250,000 exemption, according to Florida League of Cities data. Five cities lose 100%. [1][2]
The amendment's seventh spending category lets local boards spend property taxes "except as otherwise prohibited by general law," giving the Legislature the power to ban local spending by ordinary statute. [3]
Towns that can't make payroll fall under a law that lets the governor approve their budgets and appoint a board over them. As of Nov. 8, no implementing bill had been filed and no session date set. [4][5]
Florida voters passed Amendment 3 with 62% on Nov. 3. The tax cut was the headline. The takeover is in the fine print.
Amendment 3 lists seven things local property taxes may pay for. The seventh bullet covers everything else a city or county does, "except as otherwise prohibited by general law." [3] That one line is the plan.
The seventh bullet
Here is what the amendment says property taxes can pay for, according to the Florida Senate's summary of the joint resolution: [3]
Public safety: police, fire and EMS
Education and public schools
Infrastructure: roads, bridges, stormwater
Natural resource projects, including flood control
Bonds and debt service
Employee retirement
Operations and administration, and other spending local boards approve, "except as otherwise prohibited by general law"
The first six are the "core services" voters were promised. The seventh is where libraries, parks, transit, senior centers, code enforcement and city staff live. Libraries aren't named anywhere on the list. [4]
The amendment does not say the state will protect that spending. It says the Legislature can take it away with an ordinary bill, no vote of the people required. Lawmakers could already preempt some local powers. Now the Constitution itself names every local dollar beyond the core list as something they may forbid.
The amendment also orders the Legislature to "prescribe a uniform procedure" for raising the exemption further. [3] DeSantis called the vote "the beginning of our property tax elimination efforts." [6]
Six Moves: neutral words, targeted effect. "Except as otherwise prohibited by general law" reads like legal boilerplate. Its effect falls on one target: the budget decisions of every city hall and county commission in Florida.
The damage, by the numbers
The Florida League of Cities ran every city's 2025 tax roll against the $250,000 exemption. In 108 cities, at least 90% of homestead taxable value disappears from non-school taxes starting in 2028. Former Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes cited the same finding this week. [1][2]
Five cities hit 100%: Greenville, Jacob City, Jennings, Noma and Otter Creek. [1]
Brandes also noted that in 33 counties, at least 7 in 10 homesteads are assessed below $250,000. In Dixie County it is nearly 98%. [2]
The state's Revenue Estimating Conference puts the statewide loss at: [4][7]
$4.96 billion in fiscal 2027-28
$8.78 billion in fiscal 2028-29
$11.86 billion a year once fully in effect
$45.8 billion over the first five years
The League found 85 cities could not fund public safety at today's levels under a $250,000 exemption. [8] A judge ruled in August that the amendment guarantees no minimum funding for police, fire or EMS. [9]
108 Florida cities are projected to lose 90%+ of their homestead tax base
Share of each city's homestead taxable value removed by Amendment 3's $250,000 exemption. County in gray. Tampa Bay area counties.
Source: Florida League of Cities, based on Florida Department of Revenue 2025 tax rolls. The $250,000 exemption applies to non-school property taxes starting in 2028. Values in blue are 99% or higher.
In 33 Florida counties, 7 in 10+ homesteads fall below Amendment 3's $250,000 exemption
Share of homesteaded properties assessed below $250,000, 2026. Gold bars are Tampa Bay area counties.
Source: 2026 assessed values, homesteaded properties only, as cited by former state Sen. Jeff Brandes (Fortune, Nov. 7, 2026). The $250,000 exemption applies to non-school property taxes starting in 2028.
Who gets hit first
The deepest cuts land in small, rural and working-class towns, where modest homes now fall entirely under the exemption.
That includes Tampa Bay's back yard. In Polk County, Fort Meade loses 98% of its homestead base, Dundee 95.6%, Eagle Lake 95%, Lake Wales 93.2% and Bartow 90.8%. Hardee County's Zolfo Springs loses 99.1% and Bowling Green 97.9%. Pasco's Zephyrhills loses 90.3%. Kenneth City, in Pinellas, loses 92.2%. [1]
Bowling Green Mayor Sam Fite expects his town of about 2,400 to lose a third of its property tax revenue. He told the Florida Trib he does not want to beg the state for basic equipment and worries about keeping a seven-officer police force. [10]
Hillsborough projects a $366.9 million yearly hit. PSTA has warned it could cut 25 bus routes and 120 jobs in Pinellas. [11][12] St. Petersburg Council member Richie Floyd said he fears overseeing cuts that reach ambulances. [10]
The rest of the plan: squeeze, then steer
The seventh bullet doesn't work alone. Line up everything Tallahassee has put on the table, and each piece moves control the same direction.
Squeeze the revenue. The exemption removes up to $11.86 billion a year from local budgets, with nothing written in to replace it. [4]
Close the exits. DeSantis wants a "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" so local governments can't do "an end run around the amendment" by taxing residents "in other ways," meaning fees and assessments. [6][13] Those are his own words. That part is Tier 1: the person responsible said so himself.
Make towns ask. DeSantis promised "a pool of funding that we can issue grants to local governments for core needs." [6] A city that set its own budget now applies to the state to fund its fire station. He has not said how big the pool is, who qualifies or how long it lasts.
Take the wheel when they break. Under Section 218.503, Florida Statutes, a city or county comes under the governor's oversight if it misses one payroll, a debt payment or its pension contributions for lack of money. [5] The governor can then:
require approval of its budget
bar it from borrowing
appoint a financial emergency board over it, which can consolidate its services
order a recovery plan cutting "low-priority" spending
A city can't file for bankruptcy without the governor's OK. If local officials fail to fix the emergency, the law calls that "malfeasance, misfeasance, and neglect of duty" under the article of the Constitution that lets a governor suspend officials. [5]
Six Moves: force under color of law. Every step is legal. Cut the money, ban the fees, offer grants on the state's terms, and a town that misses payroll ends up run by appointees from Tallahassee.
No one in Tallahassee has used the word "takeover." FMNN doesn't need them to. We read the plan from what the text and the law do, not from what the sponsors say they meant. What the text does is documented. Whether any lawmaker intended it is not on the record, and we don't claim it.
Even the critics' fixes show where this goes. Brandes has called for a "minimum viable city" standard, a transition fund for counties absorbing cut services, and a vote on whether towns merge or dissolve. [14] He told the Florida Phoenix lawmakers will have to "build an entire process" for cities folding into counties. [13] When the debate is about which towns get to exist, home rule is already gone.
Where's the plan for the towns?
There isn't one.
DeSantis said Nov. 4 he will call a special session before his term ends, because the amendment takes effect Jan. 1. He said he'd let lawmakers pick the dates. [6][15]
As of Nov. 8, no dates were set and no implementing bill was filed, LBK News reported. Incoming Senate President Jim Boyd said the work could wait until January. Incoming House Speaker Sam Garrison said he would rather be right than quick. Sen. Don Gaetz wants to see grant language before he backs anything. [16]
The Legislature put this on the ballot before state economists estimated its cost, Brandes wrote. [17] Many legislators, he told the Florida Phoenix, are only now reading what it does. [13]
Six Moves: the official story. DeSantis has called the rural shortfall "budget dust" and warnings about cuts "fearmongering." [10][2] Senate President Ben Albritton, who voted to put the amendment on the ballot, said in October it would wipe out up to 30% of rural counties' resources. [18]
What supporters say, and the record
"Local governments are full of waste." The state's DOGE audits labeled $3.7 billion in local spending "excessive." The Miami Herald reported the reviews found waste but no fraud. [11] Even at face value, $3.7 billion doesn't cover one year of an $11.86 billion yearly loss.
"Property tax collections nearly doubled in seven years." Supporters, including DeSantis, made that case, and homeowners felt it. [19] The relief came with no floor under police, fire or EMS. [9]
"Voters chose this." They did: 62%, winning 64 of 67 counties. [10] They were promised relief. They weren't shown the seventh bullet's other job.
"Grants will cover it." No grant program exists yet. It would come from a Legislature that missed its own budget deadline the last two years and finished the budget in special sessions. [20]
What to watch
Nov. 17: State canvassing commission certifies the vote. [16]
Week of Nov. 30: Lawmakers meet in Tallahassee for the organizational session. [13]
Before Jan. 1: A possible special session, if leaders agree. Watch for any bill that uses the "prohibited by general law" power to ban local spending, or bans local fees. [6]
Jan. 5: Byron Donalds takes office as governor. [21]
August 2027: TRIM notices show the first reduced homestead taxes. Budget hearings follow in September. [16]
Call your state House member and senator now. Ask three questions: Will you use the seventh bullet to ban local spending? Will local fees be banned? Who runs a town when it can't make payroll?
If the answer to the last one is "the governor," you've found the plan.
Related reading on FMNN
"My Heart Is Broken": Florida Library Association Vows to Fight On
Can Florida Stop Amendment 3? The Real Options, and the Odds
Sources
Florida League of Cities, 2025 City Impact Data ($250,000 Homestead Exemption), based on Florida Department of Revenue 2025 tax rolls, via 1000 Friends of Florida — https://1000fof.org/propertytax/
Fortune, "Florida's new property tax cuts could defund the police, fire fighters and EMS in small towns," Nov. 7, 2026 — https://fortune.com/2026/11/07/florida-property-tax-cuts-amendmend-3-defund-police-fire-fighters-ems-small-towns-rural-dark-ages/
Florida Senate, final bill summary, CS/HJR 1-F — https://www.flsenate.gov/Committees/BillSummaries/2026F/html/1
FMNN, "My Heart Is Broken" (Revenue Estimating Conference figures; libraries) — https://www.floridamannewsnetwork.com/news/amendment-3-florida-libraries-heart-broken
Florida Statutes (2026), s. 218.503, Determination of financial emergency — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2026/0218.503
WFSU, "Florida voters approved Amendment 3. What happens next?" Nov. 5, 2026 — https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2026-11-05/florida-voters-approved-amendment-3-what-happens-next
Suncoast Searchlight, "'Disastrous': Amendment 3 passes" — https://suncoastsearchlight.org/florida-amendment-3-passes-suncoast-property-tax-cuts/
Tampa Bay Beacons, "Cities group to voters: 'No on 3,'" July 27, 2026 — https://www.tampabaybeacons.com/2026/07/27/cities-group-to-voters-no-on-3/
WTXL, judge orders rewrite of Amendment 3 ballot language — https://www.wtxl.com/news/capitol-news/judge-orders-rewrite-of-florida-amendment-3-ballot-language
Florida Trib, "As cities brace for tax cuts, DeSantis says Amendment 3 helped keep Florida red," Nov. 4, 2026 — https://floridatrib.org/2026/11/04/still-in-shock-whats-next-after-passage-of-tax-cut-amendment/
FMNN, "Amendment 3: Tax Cut, No Replacement Plan" (Hillsborough figures; DOGE audits) — https://www.floridamannewsnetwork.com/news/amendment-3-property-tax-hillsborough
92.5 Maxima, PSTA routes and jobs, Aug. 20, 2026 — https://925maxima.com/2026/08/20/amendment-3-could-cut-25-bus-routes-and-120-jobs-from-pinellas-transit-system/
Florida Phoenix (via Orlando Weekly), "DeSantis wants special session to implement 'taxpayer bill of rights,'" Nov. 5, 2026 — https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/ron-desantis/desantis-wants-special-session-to-implement-taxpayer-bill-of-rights/
Florida Trib (see 10), Brandes proposals
CBS Miami / News Service of Florida, Nov. 4, 2026 — https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/desantis-special-session-amendment-3-property-tax-implement-before-january/
LBK News, "Florida's Great Budget Scramble Has Begun," Nov. 8, 2026 — https://lbknews.com/floridas-great-budget-scramble-has-begun/
Florida Politics, Jeff Brandes, "Amendment 3 passed. Now comes Florida's Big Short-fall" — https://floridapolitics.com/archives/830119-jeff-brandes-amendment-3-passed-now-comes-floridas-big-short-fall/
WFSU, "Florida Senate President Ben Albritton comes out against Amendment 3," Oct. 22, 2026 — https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2026-10-22/florida-senate-president-ben-albritton-comes-out-against-amendment-3
WLRN, "Voters face 'rude awakening' in wake of Amendment 3 passage," Nov. 5, 2026 — https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2026-11-05/voters-face-rude-awakening-in-wake-of-amendment-3-passage
Wikipedia, "2026 in Florida" (budget passed in special session, second straight year) — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_in_Florida
CiberCuba, DeSantis seeks special session (Donalds takes office Jan. 5), Nov. 6, 2026 — https://en.cibercuba.com/noticias/2026-11-06-u1-e208933-s27061-nid344976-desantis-busca-sesion-especial-evitar-nuevos-cargos
Charts: Florida League of Cities (108 cities); 2026 assessed values as cited by former Sen. Jeff Brandes in Fortune (33 counties).