City Hall
Meanwhile, Reeves says Amendment 3 Will Cost City $7.2 Million
Pensacola freezes playground and paving projects as it braces for the cut, while Sen. Don Gaetz predicts legislative leaders will wait for Gov.-elect Byron Donalds before deciding how the amendment will be implemented.
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said Tuesday the city is already pulling back on spending to absorb the hit from Amendment 3, the homestead exemption measure voters approved last week with 62% of the vote, two points over the 60% threshold.
- The amendment raises the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. School district taxes were carved out when the Legislature put the measure on the ballot. City and county budgets were not.
“The bottom line is it’s the will of the voters,” Reeves said at his weekly press conference. “We work for the taxpayers, and affordability is a crisis right now.”
Special Session on Hold?
The special session Gov. Ron DeSantis has promised to implement Amendment 3 may never happen.
State Sen. Don Gaetz told me at lunch today that he doesn’t expect one. DeSantis has said he will discuss possible dates with House and Senate leadership and convene lawmakers before his term ends in early January.
- Gaetz predicted the Senate President and House Speaker will instead wait until the 2027 regular session, after Byron Donalds is sworn in as governor.
The Numbers
Reeves laid out what Amendment 3 means for the city’s $80 million general fund:
- $4.2 million cut beginning Oct. 1, 2027
- $7.2 million cut beginning Oct. 1, 2028, when the full exemption kicks in
- Roughly $9 million total once losses to the Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), including the county’s share of CRA funding, are added
On paper, that looks like a 9% cut. Reeves said it is much worse for most departments because 60% of the general fund goes to police and fire.
“If you did not touch public safety, police or fire, it would be a 30% cut to every other department across the board.”
- That figure doesn’t include future raises for police and fire. The mayor added that protecting public safety, which was discussed during the campaign, “is not at this point law or obligated.”
People cost money. Reeves noted that 83% of the general fund is personnel. Pausing paving and playgrounds buys time, but those are one-time dollars.
- “Raises are, jobs are,” recurring costs, he said. “When you start cutting services, those are the conversations, is services and the people who are administering those services.”
What’s Frozen
The city was already under a hiring freeze, and its approved fiscal 2027 budget was smaller than the year before in anticipation of Amendment 3. Reeves said the city is now going further:
- Playgrounds: Any project not already encumbered is frozen. Dunwoody Park and Fricker Center will still be completed. The city has 69 playgrounds, and replacements run about a quarter-million dollars each.
- Paving: Projects not already encumbered or about to start will be paused.
- Small public works: Intersection work, curb work and similar projects are under review.
- Budget exercise: All 18 city departments have been told to identify potential cuts.
“It doesn’t mean we won’t come back and do them,” Reeves said. “We’re in this assessment mode right now.”
Unfunded Mandates in the Crosshairs
Reeves pointed to one example of the costs the city will scrutinize. Pensacola is required to provide a 50% match to the Escambia County School District for school resource officers, which costs the city $592,000 a year.
- “The school board didn’t get their budget touched; the city and the county did,” he said. He stopped short of saying the city would drop the match, but said those are the types of things that could become part of the city’s advocacy in Tallahassee.
Taxes and fees are off the table for now. Asked whether the city is weighing tax or fee increases, such as a fire fee, Reeves said no, in part because he expects the Legislature to restrict them. Any such move would need City Council approval. His goal is to bring council a budget package that shows “here’s what we’re losing in service.”
Waiting on Tallahassee
Reeves said the next 30 to 45 days will be critical. Cities still don’t know what they can and can’t do, whether rules will differ by city size, or whether the state will provide any replacement revenue. DeSantis has said that isn’t his goal.
- The mayor said the city’s lobbyists are talking with lawmakers “multiple times a day,” but he hasn’t heard any tangible proposals yet. He expects much of the work to be done before session.
Gaetz’s take: If the Senate and House leaders wait as Gaetz predicts, the rules for Amendment 3 would be written during the 2027 regular session under Gov. Donalds. That would give cities and counties more time to plan.
Gaetz said voters sent a clear message: Florida voters can’t control property insurance, utility costs and mortgage interest rates, but Amendment 3 let them cut what they could control—property taxes.
- He predicts there may be an increase in some fees—the ones that have been artificially low, but he didn’t expect huge increases. Spending will have to be cut.