Floridians heading to the polls this November will decide more than a governor and a slate of lawmakers. They will also vote on Amendment 3, a constitutional change that would raise the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with inflation adjustments after that. It would also drop the annual assessment cap on non-homestead property from 10 percent to 5 percent and create a path for further reductions. School taxes would be left untouched.

The measure targets homeowners who have watched assessments and tax bills climb even as the state has grown. Supporters, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers, present it as overdue relief in a state where housing costs and property taxes have become a top complaint. Critics, led by the Florida Policy Institute and some hospital districts, say the cuts would starve public hospitals of revenue and force service reductions.

A recent Florida Policy Institute analysis estimates public hospital districts and health systems could lose $323 million over three years if the amendment passes. Sarasota Memorial Hospital System, one of the largest public systems in the country with more than 21 facilities and about two million patient visits a year, is projected to lose roughly $43.5 million in that period. North Broward Hospital District, the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, and Jackson Health System in Miami-Dade account for a large share of the statewide figure.

Erica Monet Li of the Florida Policy Institute said many residents do not realize their property taxes help fund local health care. Former Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes, who opposes the amendment, called the hospital concerns real and listed open questions: whether districts would shift costs onto fees, create new special taxing districts, or raise millage rates that hit small businesses and renters harder. He argued the Legislature advanced the plan without enough modeling and that passage could produce years of local budget fights.

DeSantis and other supporters dismiss the warnings as familiar scare tactics. “Did we not have services in 2024?” the governor asked. “Did we not have all these things that they claim you’re not going to have? Of course they did.” State Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, said cities already have substantial revenue and that the “sky is falling” claims do not match the numbers once they are laid out. DeSantis has said that if voters approve the amendment he will call lawmakers back for a special session to implement the changes and deal with any fallout.

The underlying tension is not new. Local governments and hospital taxing districts have grown accustomed to revenue that rises with assessments. Amendment 3 would slow that automatic growth for homesteaded properties and cap it more tightly for everything else. It would also restrict how counties and cities can spend remaining property-tax dollars, directing them toward public safety, schools, infrastructure, natural resources, debt service, and employee retirement benefits.

None of that requires hospitals to close or patients to go untreated. It does require districts that have relied on a rising tax base to look harder at operations, reserves, and other revenue. Florida already funds Medicaid at the state level. County contributions and local hospital millages are only part of the picture, and they vary widely by district. Some systems collect tens of millions from property taxes; others far less as a share of total budget.

Voters will have to decide whether the promised homestead relief is worth the disruption to local budgets that have expanded with the housing boom. The Florida Policy Institute frames the choice as a threat to care for the uninsured and underinsured. DeSantis and Republican legislators frame it as a test of whether government can live with less automatic growth after years of rising collections. The amendment needs 60 percent to pass. The arguments on both sides will only get louder between now and November.

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