Schools, health care, public safety could be hit under property tax plan released by DeSantis

TAMPA — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced his plan for a homestead property tax exemption that could crimp local governments’ ability to fund schools, health care, and public safety.

Simultaneously, he called for lawmakers to return to Tallahassee and address his plan in a three-day special session starting Monday.

DeSantis has been discussing elimination of all property taxes for more than a year, although he eventually narrowed his plan to elimination of homestead property taxes only.

Despite the lengthy build-up, he provided few details other than a one-page summary, noting he still wants to “ensure funding for core services.”

The governor rejected tax proposals offered by the Florida House earlier this year. He said his plan — which would require three-fifth approval from both the House and Senate and then 60% approval by Floridians as a proposed constitutional amendment in November — would immediately eliminate property taxes for 60% of Florida homeowners.

The governor said he wants to increase the state’s existing homestead exemption to $250,000. He added that he wants that to increase to $500,000 which would eliminate property taxes for up to 92% of homesteaded property owners, although he said he would leave the timing to the Legislature.

This would be the third special session since the regular legislative session ended in March. The Legislature is required to annually meet for 60 days.

“We need to start standing up for taxpayers,” DeSantis said.

“For all this time, as we’ve seen inflation throughout the country, all these different things, it’s always the individual, the consumer, the taxpayer that’s expected to change things in order to make ends meet. They never expect government to be able to change things that so that it can benefit the taxpayers,” he continued.

“We’ve always focused on the homestead part of it, which, again, is less money than local governments get from residential properties that are not homestead, so that is something that’s doable and it’s something that’s really, really meaningful.”

There’s no definition of core services in the one-page summary but they “include” public safety, education, infrastructure, and natural resources, he said.

Local governments pay nearly half of school funding. Property taxes contribute much of the local government contribution to schools. A local government’s share of the contribution to education funding depends on property values and taxes levied on those properties.

House Democratic leader Fentrice Driskell voiced concern about what the proposal could mean for schools.

“My mom is a retired educator, I hang out with a lot of teachers. I think there’s a reason why the governor didn’t want to show his work today,” Driskell said during a news conference at the Capitol Wednesday.

DeSantis, Driskell said, contradicted himself. “He says he wants to ensure funding for core services, and he says that that includes education. So, he wants to ensure that there’s funding, but there’s nothing in his plan that says that that funding won’t be cut.”

She added: “I’m very concerned that it could mean reduced funding for our schools overall, even though there could be some core service funding for core services that might maintain, but he hasn’t explained exactly what that would look like or how much there would be.”

The Florida Chamber of Commerce said in a written statement that it would “evaluate the proposed constitutional amendment with our members once specific bill text and potential fiscal impacts are released.” The pro-business lobby did note that “property taxes accounted for nearly $60 billion in local government and school funding in 2025, up from $55.18 billion the year prior and $35.7 billion in 2019.”

Healthcare 

Florida requires counties to contribute to the state’s costs of the basic Medicaid program. What a county contributes varies depending on its share of Medicaid enrollment. That amount is calculated annually and adjusted through changes in Medicaid expenditures. Documents show that counties in 2025 contributed $411.6 million toward the Medicaid program in FY 26-27. Economists predict that number will increase to $438.4 in FY 27-28.

Moreover, some counties contain hospital taxing districts, which also are supported by local property taxes. Large hospital systems, such as Broward Health, Memorial Health Care, and Hallifax Health, are run by taxing districts that rely on property taxes.

According to the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, 28% of homestead parcels in Florida have a median just value of $250,000 and below. That same report shows that about 76% of homestead parcels have a median value just value of $500,000 or below. According to Redfin, the median sale price for a home in Florida in March was $416,800.

DeSantis’ proposal would require any individual who establishes Florida residency after Jan. 1, 2027, to maintain it for five years before receiving the increased homestead exemption. It would change the limit on future property tax assessments on small businesses from 10% to 5%,

His proposal would provide a trust fund to assist local governments with continuation of core local services. DeSantis had set aside $300 million in his proposed state budget in December to help backfill potential lost property tax revenues for the state’s 29 fiscally constrained counties, but he said Wednesday that the fund would not be limited to those regions.

“We are creating a trust fund in state government that will be able to provide grants to local governments for support for these core services,” he said, referring to law enforcement and education. Some counties wouldn’t need such support, he added, referring specifically to Palm Beach County.

Such a trust fund would be established following the November election by the Legislature and his office if the measure passes, he said.

Public opinion

Public opinion surveys have been mixed about whether Floridians would approve a constitutional amendment on property tax relief. A University of North Florida poll released in March showed 56% of respondents expressing support with 35% opposed. The proposed measure could only become law if 60% of voters agree.

Senate President Ben Albritton released a statement showing he is all in on the governor’s proposal.

“Since the Governor first introduced this issue, my goal has been for the Senate to pass an amendment that gives voters the opportunity to reduce their property taxes in a straightforward and substantial way,” Albritton said.

“In my view, the proposal the Governor explained today does that. I can’t think of a more meaningful way to celebrate America’s 250 then the passage of $250,000 in tax relief for every Florida homeowner. I believe this amendment will provide meaningful relief for Florida families, while protecting businesses from extreme tax increases and safeguarding local funding for public safety, education and our clean water infrastructure.”

Following DeSantis’ lead, Albritton’s chamber opted not to offer any proposal to provide property tax relief during the regular legislative session that concluded in March.

The House did pass a proposal from Rep. Monique Miller, R-Palm Bay, that would completely have ended non-school property taxes by Jan. 1, 2027. Her original proposal passed through three House committees and would have gradually increased the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes by $100,000 each year for 10 years.

House Speaker Daniel Perez did not immediately release a statement about the governor’s proposal.