Amendment 3: What Winter Park Homeowners Should Know About Florida's Property Tax Vote

Start with how Florida taxes actually work, because most homeowners assume the bill tracks market value. Your property taxes are based on assessed value, and the Save Our Homes amendment caps how much that assessed value can grow each year, roughly 3 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. That is why a homeowner who has lived in the same house for twenty years can pay taxes on an assessed value well below the house's market value.

The exemption is a dollar amount subtracted from that assessed value, so every home assessed above the exemption gets the same dollar benefit. Winter Park sits in Orange County, and Winter Park City Manager Randy Knight estimated at a September Winter Park Chamber forum that a homeowner receiving the full benefit would save roughly $850 in 2027 and about $1,780 in 2028, close to $150 a month once the increase is fully in place. Those figures are estimates of the maximum benefit, and your actual savings depend on your property's taxable value and the tax rates that apply to it. The savings apply only to the exempted portion of your assessed value, so they are not necessarily a reduction of your entire tax bill; other charges and any future change to tax rates can affect what you actually pay.

There is a community side to this too. According to projections from Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph, as reported by the Winter Park Voice, Winter Park collected about $19.8 million in 2025 from homesteaded properties, and that figure could fall to around $14.2 million by 2028. City leaders have said the vote would bring real budget trade-offs and are already discussing cost savings, but no specific service reductions have been finalized. A tax cut like this is not free; it is a choice about what the city can afford, and both sides of that trade are worth understanding before the vote.

Here is the part that matters most for out of state buyers. Under the measure, someone who is not a Florida resident as of December 31, 2026 would not receive the higher exemption right away. County property appraiser guidance shows new residents would start with roughly today's exemption, about $50,000, and phase into the larger amounts beginning with their fifth year of homestead. If you are relocating, that timing belongs in your budget, especially if you are comparing Florida against the state you are leaving. I walked through the whole move in my guide to moving to Winter Park from another state.

One more number worth putting in your budget: a property's current tax bill does not necessarily reflect what a new owner will pay. After a sale, the assessed value resets, and a new buyer must qualify for and apply for the homestead exemption, so the current bill can understate what the new owner will actually owe.

The measure leaves the pieces of Florida's tax system that matter most to sellers intact. Save Our Homes, the annual 3 percent assessment cap, stays in place, and so does portability, the rule that lets you carry up to $500,000 of your assessment benefit to a new Florida home when you sell and buy again. School taxes are untouched.

And homestead still requires action. You have to own and occupy the home as your permanent residence as of January 1 and file for the exemption with the Orange County Property Appraiser between January 1 and March 1. It does not happen automatically when you buy, no matter how the vote goes. If you already have a homestead exemption, you generally do not need to reapply simply because the amendment passes; the January 1 ownership and occupancy requirement and the March 1 application deadline apply to establishing the exemption in the first place.

For buyers, the property tax bill is part of the true monthly cost of a home, right alongside insurance, HOA dues, and maintenance, and under this measure a new Florida resident's path to the full exemption matters even more. I walk buyers through the whole cost picture on the buying side, so the numbers on paper match the numbers in real life.

For sellers, taxes are part of the story a buyer's lender and budget will weigh, which is one more reason Winter Park homes price as carefully as they do. If your gain would be meaningful when you sell, the capital gains rules are a separate question worth planning for before you list, and I covered them in an earlier essay here. The most useful starting point, before any election math, is a clear read of your home's current market position.