On a quiet avenue in Oakland Park, Colleen Pollett opens her newest mortgage assertion and does what many South Florida householders now do instinctively. She skips previous the principal and curiosity and goes straight to escrow.
Insurance coverage. Taxes. Changes.
Even with a homestead exemption, she says these line objects have grown much less predictable and much dearer than she imagined when she purchased her first dwelling almost a decade in the past.
“I’m prepared to pay taxes,” she says. “I simply wish to really feel like what I’m paying is smart.”
That frustration now sits on the middle of probably the most consequential poll measures Florida voters will see in years: eliminating non-school property taxes on homesteaded major residences.
In Coral Ridge, 48-year-old Lauren Mitchell sees the difficulty by a generational lens. She’s a single mom elevating her kids in the identical neighborhood the place she grew up, when Fort Lauderdale felt smaller and deeply native. She owns it outright. There’s no mortgage cost. But annually, a property tax invoice arrives reflecting a market reshaped by out-of-state patrons and rising valuations.
Even with annual will increase capped, assessments climb. Properties close by promote, get renovated, or are torn down and rebuilt. Costs reset expectations block by block. Longtime neighbors quietly transfer away.
“Fort Lauderdale feels fully totally different from after I was rising up right here,” she says. “We knew each household on this block. Now houses promote, get renovated, and the faces change yearly. A few of my neighbors who raised their youngsters right here couldn’t sustain with the rising prices and needed to transfer. It’s exhausting to not really feel just like the sense of group we had is slipping away.”
She helps public providers. What unsettles her is the sensation that appreciation she by no means requested for continues to translate into larger annual prices tied to a home she already owns.
What’s on the Poll
In February 2026, the Florida Home handed HJR 203, a proposed constitutional modification that may broaden the homestead exemption by $100,000 yearly starting in 2027. By 2037, non-school property taxes on major residences could be absolutely phased out.
The modification should obtain not less than 60 % approval within the November 3, 2026 Normal Election.
College district taxes would stay. The portion affected funds county and municipal providers corresponding to roads, drainage techniques, sanitation, parks, planning departments, and elements of police and hearth operations.
To grasp the maths, contemplate a $750,000 dwelling in Broward County. After exemptions, roughly $700,000 of that worth could also be topic to county and metropolis taxes. Native governments cost a set greenback quantity for each $1,000 of taxable worth. If that fee is about $10 per $1,000, the annual non-school portion comes out to round $7,000. Below the proposal, that quantity would step by step shrink over time, probably saving full-time residents a number of thousand {dollars} per yr.
For major householders, retirees, and single-income households, that aid may very well be significant. However eradicating a income supply doesn’t eradicate the necessity for funding.
If Homestead Taxes Shrink, What Fills the Hole?
Native governments nonetheless should preserve infrastructure, function parks, handle stormwater, and fund public security. Legislative estimates recommend billions in recurring income may disappear as soon as the homestead phaseout is full.
In apply, that funding would doubtless shift fairly than vanish.
Counties may improve tax charges on non-homesteaded properties corresponding to second houses, trip residences, funding properties, and business actual property. In contrast to major houses, these properties don’t obtain homestead protections. For out-of-state homeowners from California or New York, Florida would nonetheless stay comparatively engaging. These states levy excessive state revenue taxes together with larger efficient property tax charges. Florida has no state revenue tax and no property tax, and even a rise in non-homesteaded property charges would doubtless depart it aggressive.
One other avenue is consumption-based income. Counties can ask voters to approve native gross sales surtaxes, which unfold the burden throughout residents and guests. In a tourism-heavy financial system like South Florida’s, that captures income from seasonal residents and vacationers.
Vacationer improvement taxes, generally added to resort stays and short-term leases, may additionally play a job. Their use is presently restricted, usually tied to tourism promotion and sure capital initiatives. Increasing their flexibility would require legislative motion, however they signify one other potential lever.
Native governments might also rely extra closely on consumer charges, improvement affect charges tied to new building, or focused assessments for infrastructure initiatives. Some municipalities may trim discretionary spending or delay capital enhancements.
The burden wouldn’t disappear. It could redistribute.
Critics argue that property taxes are probably the most secure funding sources obtainable. Gross sales taxes fluctuate with financial cycles. Tourism rises and falls. Industrial property markets shift. Relying extra closely on these streams introduces variability into native budgets.
Supporters counter that major residences shouldn’t function probably the most reliable income engine for native authorities, significantly when rising dwelling values fairly than rising incomes are driving tax payments upward.
A Selection About Stability
Florida voters accredited an inflation-linked homestead adjustment in 2024. The 2026 proposal asks whether or not that safety ought to go additional.
Those that profit most could be year-round residents with homesteaded properties, particularly households on mounted or single incomes. Second-home homeowners and business property holders may shoulder extra of the municipal burden. Renters may really feel oblique results relying on how landlords reply to shifting prices.
For Pollett, the controversy facilities on predictability.
For Mitchell, it’s about continuity and legacy. “I’d love for my youngsters to have the choice to boost their households right here sometime,” she says. “I simply hope rising taxes don’t make that call for us.”
