NAPLES — Gov. Ron DeSantis has joined the campaign for Amendment 3, a proposal that would let some homeowners keep more of their property-tax money while making it harder for local governments to raise revenue from other properties.
For qualifying homeowners, the savings would be real, initially anyway. Unfortunately, Collier County’s expenses for local services have declined to participate in the constitutional amendment and will apparently still cost money.
The Collier Clerk’s office estimates the measure could create an initial local revenue gap of approximately $63 million, growing to roughly $120 million by 2028 if the proposal receives the required 60 percent statewide vote.
That does not mean every lost dollar automatically becomes a service cut. It means local governments would have to decide which services can be reduced, which costs can be shifted and which familiar tax can return wearing a fake mustache labeled ‘fee.’
The state’s sales pitch is refreshingly simple: homeowners will pay less. The county’s footnote is less cinematic: fire stations, roads, deputies, drainage systems and parks continue sending invoices even after the State turns off the revenue spigot.
Collier residents may therefore be asked to perform Florida’s favorite fiscal exercise — celebrating a tax cut while discovering that the same money has been relocated to special assessments, service charges or mysteriously longer wait times at local government offices.
Supporters can fairly argue that homeowners deserve relief as property values and tax bills climb, but local officials can fairly ask what is supposed to pay for local services when the revenue disappears.
For now, Tallahassee gets the ‘tax cuts’ headline. Collier gets stuck with the calculator.
Voters get the asterisk.
Sources: WTXL and Collier Clerk analysis.