Florida Property Tax Cut Heads to November Ballot — Pensacola Mayor Puts Local Impact at 6.4 Million Dollars

Pensacola, FL (NewsRadio 92.3) -- Florida lawmakers passed a sweeping property tax cut proposal Tuesday — sending a constitutional amendment to November's ballot that Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves says would carve 6.4 million dollars out of the city's general fund with no legal mechanism to replace it.

The Florida House passed the measure 75-26 and the Senate 30-9 during a special session called by Governor Ron DeSantis. The proposal — titled Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes — would raise the homestead exemption from the current 50,000 dollars to 150,000 in 2027 and 250,000 in 2028 for non-school property taxes. School district levies are carved out of the proposal. Statewide local governments are projected to lose 4.6 billion dollars annually initially — rising to 8.4 billion as the exemption grows. The measure also lowers the cap on annual assessment increases for non-homestead properties and limits how property tax revenue can be spent to core services like public safety, infrastructure, and stormwater.

Reeves laid out the local numbers at a press conference Tuesday. He says approximately 72 percent of homes in Pensacola would no longer pay any property taxes under a 250,000 dollar exemption — because Save Our Homes has held assessed values well below market values for many homeowners over decades. The resulting 6.4 million dollar loss — four million in year one and 2.4 million recurring annually in year two — would effectively wipe out the entire budget for all 11 city community centers and all maintenance for 95 parks combined.

Reeves says 60 percent of the city's general fund goes directly to police and fire — and property taxes are the general fund's primary revenue source. He says state law already limits what other taxes cities can collect meaning there is no replacement lever available. He added that the city completed a forensic audit and found no waste or fraud anywhere near the scale needed to absorb the cut.

Reeves says he is not opposed to modernizing how government is funded — but says passing a proposal of this magnitude in a three-day special session with no study and no replacement plan isn't reform.

Florida voters will decide the constitutional amendment in November. It requires 60 percent approval to take effect.