Florida Democrats Vote to Oppose Amendment 3, Warning It Would Cut Local Services and Threaten Public Safety

Tallahassee, FL — Yesterday, The Florida Democratic Party State Executive Committee voted to formally oppose Amendment 3, the property tax measure headed to voters on the November 3 ballot. 

Party members adopted the position over concerns that the amendment would strip billions of dollars from the local budgets that fund police, fire rescue, EMTs, and other essential services Floridians depend on every day. 

Statement from Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried:

“Florida Democrats are focused on improving the lives of working families and seniors across the state. We need real affordability relief, but Amendment 3 would hurt our local communities and cut local services while giving huge tax breaks to billionaires and corporations.

This is a scam that would either raise other taxes on working families or rob their communities of essential services like public hospitals, EMTs, fire rescue, disaster preparedness, road maintenance, children services, libraries, and parks.

Amendment 3 is bad for our cities and towns, bad for our rural counties, and just plain bad for Florida.”

Background: Local officials warn this amendment is a power grab. By draining the local revenue that pays for these services, Amendment 3 would put Tallahassee Republicans in charge of decisions that belong to Florida’s cities, counties, and the residents who elect their own local leaders, leaving communities to answer for cuts they never chose.

Amendment 3 would sharply expand the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes and set the state on a path toward eliminating those taxes entirely. State economists estimate the measure would cost local governments roughly $12 billion a year, the revenue cities and counties rely on to keep first responders staffed, hospitals open, and neighborhoods safe.

This loss would force an impossible choice on local communities: raise other taxes on working families or gut the services that keep them safe. Police departments, fire rescue crews, and EMTs are funded overwhelmingly through local property taxes. When that revenue disappears, the first cuts land on emergency response, disaster preparedness, and the everyday functions that hold a community together.

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