If Florida voters approve Amendment 3 this November, the proposed property tax overhaul would strip millions of dollars from local government budgets. That potential outcome was a consistent theme during two days of Orange County budgeting workshops held this week to prepare for the next fiscal year.
If approved, the proposal would cause Orange County to lose about $165 million in property tax revenues in 2027. In 2028, with the proposal’s higher homestead exemption in effect, the county says it would lose about $275 million.
RELATED: Local governments brace for property tax cuts
“We are under tremendous pressure to provide all of the services that our local communities need, at a time when our state is advancing an amendment to the ballot for local governments to reduce their budgets,” Mayor Jerry Demings said.
Public safety concerns
Orange County describes its first budgeting pillar, public safety, as “the fundamental responsibility of government.” The county’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-27 includes more than $1.1 billion for public safety, to support the sheriff’s office, fire rescue and corrections departments.
Because most of the county’s property tax revenues currently go to public safety, it’s also the department that stands to be most directly affected from the property tax proposal, should voters approve it.
The sheriff’s office requests $470 million for the upcoming fiscal year. That’s an 11% increase, Sheriff John Mina said. It’s also less than the $508 million amount he originally requested earlier this year.
Immigration rights advocates sent Orange County Sheriff John Mina a letter this week, asking for more transparency about the sheriff’s request — and demanding confirmation “that not one local dollar will be used to expand immigration enforcement.” Several people spoke during a public comment period on Wednesday
Mina said immigration enforcement is not a top priority for OCSO.
Of 1,939 OCSO deputies, 160 of them, or 8%, are designated immigration officers under the federal 287(g) program, Mina said. “If you look at surrounding counties, all of their deputies have been through it, and have that training. So that may go to show you that it's a different priority for them. It's just not our top priority.”
That said, state law requires local law enforcement agencies to use their “best efforts” to support federal immigration enforcement. “We will follow the law,” Mina said.
Citing data shared by the county’s community and family services department, District 5 Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad said the property tax overhaul would likely diminish the county’s ability to support victims of sex trafficking.
“As the sheriff, would you think that if there's a reduction in those programs, that there could be an increase in that type of crime in our community?” Martinez Semrad asked Mina.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Mina said.
In that scenario, he said, the sheriff’s office would continue investing all possible resources to prevent human and sex trafficking.
Reduced services, no matter how you ‘slice and dice’ it
Orange County’s proposed budget for FY 26-27 includes about $115 million for Central Florida's LYNX bus system, representing an increase of 13.3% from the last fiscal year.
LYNX provides public transportation for Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. Each county contributes to a share of the system’s operating costs, based on how many service hours are spent in each. Orange County contributes the most funding, just over 77%.
LYNX Chief Development Officer James Boyle credited $55 million from a county program that uses existing revenue sources to help LYNX expand services and route frequency. Those expansions have led to higher ridership.
“When we talk to our customers and citizens in the community, when it comes to transit and bus service, one of the first things they always ask for is more service. Buses that come more often,” Boyle said. “The Accelerated Transportation Safety Program has done just that.”
Less property tax revenue, though, would put the future of that program “in jeopardy,” Demings said — and likely reduce LYNX’s capacity to keep expanding services.
“Those types of programs that we are already doing to enhance the transit services within our community would likely go away,” Demings said. “Our budget would be reduced, and we'd have to look at all of those things that we don't have to provide, but we are providing.”
Boyle echoed that sentiment.
“There's several different ways you could slice and dice it, if we are asked to reduce our budget,” he said. “It could be a reduction of frequency of service, it could be discontinuing routes …. We don't know the specifics yet, but it could have a negative impact on riders and ridership overall, for sure.”
‘Real threats’
The county’s planning, environmental and development services department (PEDS) seeks just over $256 million for the upcoming fiscal year, or 1.4% less than the last adopted budget.
More than half of the department’s budget, 57%, is made up of “pass-through” funds, meaning dollars that PEDS passes on to other departments, said PEDS Director Tanya Wilson. For example, the county’s affordable housing trust fund, Housing For All, makes up 34% of the PEDS budget.
The department’s role as a funding conduit supporting a range of public services only raises the stakes for the future of those services, should the property tax proposal go through.
For example, the property tax overhaul would limit the county’s ability to comply with unfunded state mandates to clean up polluted waterways and otherwise protect wetlands, lakes and groundwater resources. Environmental complaints from citizens would also take longer to investigate and resolve.
“These are real threats. These are not things we're making up,” Wilson said. “You can feel the magnitude of what could happen should we lose those funds, and the detriment, or adverse impacts, it could have on the services, the quality of life, the safety and security of our communities and our residents.”
Wilson also highlighted the “health, safety and welfare” aspect of the department’s building safety work. “Not being able to expeditiously move and respond to some of the inspection requests or needs could be a threat to the safety and security of our residents.”
Earlier this year, building safety staff responded in the early-morning hours to structural concerns reported by residents of The Rialto on West Sand Lake Road. Staff inspected the building and recommended it be evacuated after determining it was showing signs of “instability.”
