I am seeing more and more warnings about Amendment 3 — especially involving our police officers and firefighters.
If you vote for Amendment 3, we are told, prepare yourself. Police will be cut. Firefighters will disappear. Essential services will suffer.
It is a powerful argument because nobody wants fewer police officers protecting our neighborhoods or fewer firefighters answering the call when our homes are burning.
But before we allow fear to make this decision for us, how about we actually read what Amendment 3 does?
That is why I am encouraging Eye readers to watch a video from Grant Warrington that has been making the rounds. He walks through six of the biggest claims being made about Amendment 3 and asks viewers to look beyond the rhetoric and into the actual language.
Watch Grant’s video on Amendment 3 here:
And some of what he discusses is right there in Florida’s official ballot information.
Amendment 3 would increase the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments after that. The existing school-tax structure is not included in that increased exemption.
It also says counties and municipalities must use property-tax revenue for specified purposes including public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, debt service, employee retirement benefits, and government operations and administration.
That matters when you hear the argument that police and fire simply have to be the first things sacrificed.
There is another piece of this story that deserves a lot more attention.
Florida law now requires counties and municipalities to conduct a public budget-reduction exercise identifying ways they could potentially reduce the following year’s budget by 10% without compromising essential public services such as law enforcement and fire services or violating legal obligations.
Read that again.
Local government has to look for potential savings without compromising police and fire.
So when the first response to property-tax relief is, “We may have to cut your police and firefighters,” – it’s a fear tactic and who is behind creating the fear?
I have tremendous respect for our first responders. That is precisely why I don’t like seeing them placed in the middle of political campaigns designed to frighten taxpayers.
They deserve better than that. And so do taxpayers.
There are issues Floridians should understand before voting.
Amendment 3 does not eliminate every property tax. It applies the larger homestead exemption to non-school levies. Non-homestead property, businesses, rentals and investment properties remain taxable under the system.
Local governments also retain other revenue mechanisms. And Grant correctly points out that special assessments and certain fees sit outside the property-tax exemption — meaning taxpayers should watch carefully to see whether local governments attempt to replace lost property-tax revenue elsewhere.
That is a legitimate discussion.
So are questions about the effect on individual county and city budgets.
But those questions should be answered with numbers, not frightening commercials.
Here’s our hope: turn down the noise!
That may be my biggest takeaway from Grant’s video.
Turn down the noise.
Stop assuming that the loudest person in the room has the facts.
Don’t automatically believe someone simply because he or she is wearing a uniform in a political advertisement or a sign is flying from one of their buildings. Don’t automatically believe a politician. Don’t automatically believe a taxpayer group, either.
Do your homework. Read the amendment. Look at your own county budget.
Ask what government spending looked like five years ago compared with today.
And remember that everyone participating in this debate has interests of their own.
Grant deserves a thumbs-up for encouraging Floridians to dig deeper rather than simply react to the latest frightening headline.
At Eye on Jacksonville, that is what we intend to keep doing as November approaches.
We will keep following Amendment 3, the claims being made about it, the numbers behind those claims and what it could mean for Northeast Florida taxpayers.
Because whether you ultimately vote YES or NO, one thing should not cast your ballot for you:
Fear.
