Try Your Hand at Balancing a City Budget
Ever wondered what it takes to keep a city’s finances running smoothly? A new interactive tool from Local Voices United puts you in control of a city’s budget. Local Voices United is a nonpartisan, grassroots initiative of the Florida League of Cities that helps Floridians learn about local decision making.
The tool, Balance an Example Budget, shows how Amendment 3, which appears on the November ballot, could affect local services. Amendment 3 would steadily increase the homestead exemption with the goal of eventually eliminating homestead property taxes altogether. Property taxes help pay for essentials like police, fire rescue, and road repairs and many other amenities like our parks and recreation facilities.
Amendment 3 would roll out in stages. Right now, the first $50,000 of a primary home's value is exempt from property taxes. Under Amendment 3, that exemption would grow to $150,000 in 2027 and to $250,000 in 2028. From there, the amendment directs the Florida Legislature to create a plan to eventually eliminate property taxes on primary homes altogether, although it does not set a deadline or identify how the lost revenue would be replaced. It would also limit how quickly the taxable value of other properties, such as rentals, second homes, and businesses, can rise each year, lowering the cap from 10% to 5%. The Florida League of Cities estimates these changes could reduce local funding statewide by nearly $12 billion a year.
This new interactive tool allows you to choose an example city close to the size of your own, see how much homestead property tax revenue would disappear from its budget, and then try to close the gap by trimming services or finding new sources of revenue. It's an eye-opening, hands-on way to experience the real and often difficult choices behind every dollar, and to understand what those decisions could mean for the services our residents count on every day.
Take a few minutes to explore the tool, learn more about Amendment 3, and stay informed about the decisions that shape our community here: https://storage.googleapis.com/cm-genpurpose/lvu_budget_balancer_v8.html
