Florida's Property Tax Vote: What Amendment 3 Would Actually Change

If you own a homesteaded house in Broward County and Amendment 3 passes, your tax bill falls by roughly $1,400 in 2027 and roughly $2,700 in 2028.

If you are moving to Florida and you close in January 2027 instead of December 2026, you get none of that, and you wait five years.

Both of those come out of the same amendment. Here is how it works, and what I tell buyers about the timing.

Market briefWhat is actually on the ballot

Florida voters decide Amendment 3, formally CS/HJR 1F, on November 3, 2026. The Legislature passed it on June 2, 2026 by a House vote of 75 to 26. Constitutional amendments in Florida require approval by at least 60% of voters.

If it passes, it takes effect January 1, 2027. You would first see it on the August 2027 TRIM notice, and on the tax bill delivered in November 2027. Nothing changes on your current bill.

Market briefThe split that decides everything

This is the part that gets lost in the headline, and it is the whole story.

The increased exemption applies to non-school taxes only. School district taxes are untouched above the first $25,000.

Under current law, a qualifying Florida homeowner receives up to $51,411 in exemptions for 2026: $25,000 applied to all millages including school, plus an additional $26,411 applied to non-school millages only. That second tier is adjusted annually for inflation.

Amendment 3 replaces that structure with $25,000 against school levies, and up to $150,000 against non-school levies beginning January 1, 2027, rising to $250,000 beginning January 1, 2028, with CPI adjustments from 2029.

School millage is not a rounding error in South Florida. In Pompano Beach, the 2025 final adopted rate is 20.2573 mills total, of which 6.4845 mills is School Board and School Board Debt. That is about 32% of the bill, and Amendment 3 does not reduce it.

Market briefWhat it looks like on a real Broward bill

Take a $650,000 single-family home in Pompano Beach, newly purchased, homestead established, no accumulated Save Our Homes benefit carried in. Using the 2025 final adopted millage from the Broward County Property Appraiser:

The saving is about $1,358 in 2027 and about $2,735 in 2028. The school column does not move in any year.

Two things this table does not include. It uses 2025 final adopted rates, because rates for the current year are not adopted until September. And it excludes non-ad valorem assessments for solid waste, fire and stormwater, which appear on your bill and which Amendment 3 does not touch.

Miami-Dade millage differs by municipality and the arithmetic changes accordingly. Your own number depends on your millage code, not on the county.

Market briefThe December 31 line, and what it costs to cross it late

Owners who are not permanent Florida residents as of December 31, 2026 receive a different exemption: $25,000 for school levies and $50,000 for non-school levies, for five years. They become eligible for the same exemption as permanent residents in the fifth year.

Run that against the same house. $650,000 in Pompano Beach, new resident, homestead established in 2027: about $12,316.

That is not a smaller benefit. It is not a benefit at all. A $50,000 non-school exemption is slightly less than today's $51,411, so a new resident pays approximately what a homeowner pays under the current system, while the neighbor who established residency by December 31, 2026 sees the bill fall to $9,562.

The gap in 2028 is roughly $2,755 a year, held for four years before the step up. On this house, on these rates, the difference between closing in December 2026 and closing in January 2027 is in the neighborhood of $11,000.

What I tell relocating buyers is that this is a timing question, not a price question. A buyer negotiating hard over $5,000 in October should understand what the calendar is worth.

If you are planning a move to South Florida, the relocation timeline is the thing to work backward from.

Market briefThe part nobody is writing about: 10% drops to 5%

Amendment 3 also reduces the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%, beginning in 2027. This applies to taxes levied by counties, municipalities and special districts, and does not apply to school districts.

There is no two-bucket system here. Every non-homestead owner gets the 5% cap on the same effective date, resident or not, individual or entity.

This matters most to people holding for a long time: landlords, second-home owners, families holding an inherited property that never had homestead. The benefit compounds quietly. It does nothing for a short hold.

For anyone building a rental position in Miami-Dade or Broward, this changes the carrying cost math on a long horizon. That is worth modeling before you buy, not after. I go through it as part of investment and portfolio analysis.

Market briefWhat it does not do

• It does not eliminate property taxes.
• It does not reduce school taxes above the first $25,000.
• It does not cap non-ad valorem assessments. Solid waste, fire and stormwater are still billed.
• It does not affect your insurance premium, which in most South Florida budgets has moved more than taxes have.
• It does not require you to reapply if you already have homestead.

Market briefWhat to do differently between now and January 1

If you already have homestead in Florida, nothing. You are on the right side of the date.

If you are relocating and intend to establish Florida residency, the date you become a permanent resident is the variable that matters most, and it is a legal test with specific requirements. Confirm what qualifies with a Florida attorney or tax professional before you plan around it.

If you are buying investment property, the cap change applies regardless of timing, so there is no calendar pressure on that side.

If you are selling, expect Q4 to carry more urgency than a normal fourth quarter among relocating buyers. That is a real factor in how you price and how you evaluate an offer, and it is worth discussing before you list. I cover it in buyer representation from the other side of the table.

Market briefThe counterweight

This is revenue that local governments currently spend, and the amendment does not say how they replace it.

Florida's Revenue Estimating Conference put the cash impact on local non-school property tax revenue at negative $4.95 billion in FY 2027-28 with the $150,000 exemption in place, and negative $8.78 billion in FY 2028-29 with the $250,000 exemption. The recurring impact is estimated at negative $11.86 billion.

The amendment restricts how counties and municipalities may use ad valorem revenue, and it requires the Legislature to prescribe a uniform procedure for local governments to raise the exemption further, up to full assessed value, with special districts able to do the same by referendum. Supporters describe that as a path toward eliminating non-school property taxes on homesteads. Opponents, including a number of county and municipal officials, have raised concerns about funding for services carried by those same levies.

Both of those readings come from the same text. How you weigh them is a voting question, not a real estate question, and I am not going to tell you how to vote.

Market briefA note on the numbers

Millage figures come from the Broward County Property Appraiser 2025 Final Millage Rate Table, millage code 1512, Pompano Beach. Rates for the current tax year are not adopted until September and this table will be updated when they are. Exemption amounts and provisions come from the enrolled text of CS/HJR 1F and the Florida House staff analysis. Fiscal estimates come from Florida's Revenue Estimating Conference.

Every figure above is an estimate for illustration on one hypothetical property. Your bill depends on your millage code, your assessed value, your exemptions and your accumulated Save Our Homes benefit.

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. Confirm your own situation with a licensed tax professional, a Florida attorney, or your county property appraiser before making a decision based on it.

If you want the arithmetic run on a specific address in Miami-Dade or Broward, whether you are buying or selling, get in touch and I will do it.