Dunedin City leaders here are bracing for deep budget cuts to fire protection, public parks, and libraries if Florida voters approve a sweeping property tax exemption increase on the November ballot — and they’re already mapping out what could be lost.
The constitutional amendment, placed on the ballot by the state legislature, would raise the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 next year and up to $250,000 the year after. If passed, the change would remove roughly 60% of Florida property owners from the tax rolls entirely.
For Dunedin, where property taxes fund 35% of the general budget, that translates to a projected loss of $4.2 million in the first year and $6.3 million in the second.
Mayor Maureen Freaney said the math is unavoidable. “Those are going to create some painful cuts. It’s just a fact. It’s not fearmongering,” she said. “It’s just a fact.”
To protect fire services — which the amendment designates as a protected category alongside schools — the city is considering a dedicated fire assessment fee to offset what it may lose. But broader budget discussions have barely begun, and Freaney said her concern deepened after state lawmakers stripped a proposal by Gov. Ron DeSantis to establish a trust fund that would have helped backfill local government losses.
Local parks are also squarely in the crosshairs. The city’s general fund currently directs $8 million toward parks and green spaces, keeping them free and accessible to residents. Kerri O’Brien, director of the Friends of Hammock Park, said each Dunedin taxpayer contributes roughly $350 a year toward that system — a modest amount that funds trail upkeep, erosion control and invasive species management at the 90-acre nature preserve.
“It’s not a luxury in Dunedin,” O’Brien said. “This is livable Dunedin. This is what makes Dunedin the gem that it is.”
Freaney framed the broader stakes as a question of local control. “Who do you want to control what you want in your community?” she said. “Do you want the state to control it?”
Florida voters will make that decision in November. City officials have not yet confirmed specific cuts to library hours, park schedules, or fire operations, and no final budget proposals have been approved.
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