An aerial top-down photo shows a suburban residential neighborhood in Tampa, Florida, featuring single-family homes with private swimming pools, landscaped backyards, green lawns, and clean paved streets lined with palm trees. — An aerial view of a Tampa neighborhood. Credit: Gianfranco Vivi / Shutterstock

Florida voters have passed property tax-cutting Amendment 3, a proposal that critics say will have devastating impacts on funding for public services, including first responder services.

With 96% of precincts reporting, Fresh Take Florida’s election dashboard shows the controversial amendment with nearly 62% of the vote, well above the 60% threshold needed to pass.

The proposal will increase Florida’s homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with state economists saying the measure could reduce local government revenue by nearly $5 billion in its first year and nearly $8.8 billion the following year.

Virtually funded entirely by the Florida Realtor’s Vote Yes on 3 PAC, Amendment 3 saw immense pushback from city officials, educators and especially first responders. Pretty much every law enforcement entity in the Tampa Bay area came out against the measure, arguing it would result in a loss of funding and decrease in public safety.

The sole sheriff to come out in support of the measure was Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco, who received a $1,000 payment from the Florida Realtors back in July, and is leaving his job to run in a special general election for Florida State Senate District 21. Nocco argued that local governments “[will] become more efficient, because they’re going to have to recognize,” and that communities won’t don’t need to worry about first responders losing any money because politicians in Tallahassee will make sure their budgets are a “priority.”

This is a developing post.

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This article appears in Oct. 29 – Nov. 04, 2026.