On a quiet street in Oakland Park, Colleen Pollett opens her latest mortgage statement and does what many South Florida homeowners now do instinctively. She skips past the principal and interest and goes straight to escrow.
Insurance. Taxes. Adjustments.
Even with a homestead exemption, she says those line items have grown less predictable and far more expensive than she imagined when she bought her first home nearly a decade ago.
“I’m willing to pay taxes,” she says. “I just want to feel like what I’m paying makes sense.”
That frustration now sits at the center of one of the most consequential ballot measures Florida voters will see in years: eliminating non-school property taxes on homesteaded primary residences.
In Coral Ridge, 48-year-old Lauren Mitchell sees the issue through a generational lens. She’s a single mother raising her children in the same neighborhood where she grew up, when Fort Lauderdale felt smaller and deeply local. She owns it outright. There’s no mortgage payment. Yet each year, a property tax bill arrives reflecting a market reshaped by out-of-state buyers and rising valuations.
Even with annual increases capped, assessments climb. Homes nearby sell, get renovated, or are torn down and rebuilt. Prices reset expectations block by block. Longtime neighbors quietly move away.
“Fort Lauderdale feels completely different from when I was growing up here,” she says. “We knew every family on this block. Now homes sell, get renovated, and the faces change every year. Some of my neighbors who raised their kids here couldn’t keep up with the rising costs and had to move. It’s hard not to feel like the sense of community we had is slipping away.”
She supports public services. What unsettles her is the feeling that appreciation she never asked for continues to translate into higher annual costs tied to a house she already owns.
What’s on the Ballot
In February 2026, the Florida House passed HJR 203, a proposed constitutional amendment that would expand the homestead exemption by $100,000 annually beginning in 2027. By 2037, non-school property taxes on primary residences would be fully phased out.
The amendment must receive at least 60 percent approval in the November 3, 2026 General Election.
School district taxes would remain. The portion affected funds county and municipal services such as roads, drainage systems, sanitation, parks, planning departments, and parts of police and fire operations.
To understand the math, consider a $750,000 home in Broward County. After exemptions, roughly $700,000 of that value may be subject to county and city taxes. Local governments charge a set dollar amount for every $1,000 of taxable value. If that rate is about $10 per $1,000, the annual non-school portion comes out to around $7,000. Under the proposal, that amount would gradually shrink over time, potentially saving full-time residents several thousand dollars per year.
For primary homeowners, retirees, and single-income families, that relief could be meaningful. But removing a revenue source doesn’t eliminate the need for funding.
If Homestead Taxes Shrink, What Fills the Gap?
Local governments still must maintain infrastructure, operate parks, manage stormwater, and fund public safety. Legislative estimates suggest billions in recurring revenue could disappear once the homestead phaseout is complete.
In practice, that funding would likely shift rather than vanish.
Counties could increase tax rates on non-homesteaded properties such as second homes, vacation residences, investment properties, and commercial real estate. Unlike primary homes, those properties don’t receive homestead protections. For out-of-state owners from California or New York, Florida would still remain comparatively attractive. Those states levy high state income taxes along with higher effective property tax rates. Florida has no state income tax and no estate tax, and even an increase in non-homesteaded property rates would likely leave it competitive.
Another avenue is consumption-based revenue. Counties can ask voters to approve local sales surtaxes, which spread the burden across residents and visitors. In a tourism-heavy economy like South Florida’s, that captures revenue from seasonal residents and vacationers.
Tourist development taxes, commonly added to hotel stays and short-term rentals, could also play a role. Their use is currently restricted, often tied to tourism promotion and certain capital projects. Expanding their flexibility would require legislative action, but they represent another potential lever.
Local governments may also rely more heavily on user fees, development impact fees tied to new construction, or targeted assessments for infrastructure projects. Some municipalities could trim discretionary spending or delay capital improvements.
The burden would not disappear. It would redistribute.
Critics argue that property taxes are one of the most stable funding sources available. Sales taxes fluctuate with economic cycles. Tourism rises and falls. Commercial property markets shift. Relying more heavily on those streams introduces variability into local budgets.
Supporters counter that primary residences shouldn’t serve as the most dependable revenue engine for local government, particularly when rising home values rather than rising incomes are driving tax bills upward.
A Choice About Stability
Florida voters approved an inflation-linked homestead adjustment in 2024. The 2026 proposal asks whether that protection should go further.
Those who benefit most would be year-round residents with homesteaded properties, especially households on fixed or single incomes. Second-home owners and commercial property holders could shoulder more of the municipal burden. Renters might feel indirect effects depending on how landlords respond to shifting costs.
For Pollett, the debate centers on predictability.
For Mitchell, it’s about continuity and legacy. “I’d love for my kids to have the option to raise their families here someday,” she says. “I just hope rising taxes don’t make that decision for us.”
