CLAY COUNTY – No matter how many ways Clay County Property Appraiser Tracy Drake and County Manager Howard Wanamaker played with the numbers, Tuesday’s vote by the Florida Legislature may put the future of the county’s finances in jeopardy.

The Florida House of Representatives and Senate voted to lower homestead property taxes on Tuesday to put more money in homeowners’ pockets. The measure still needs 60% approval by voters during the Nov. 3 General Election. If passed, it could reduce ad valorem revenues by as much as $21 million in the county’s 2027 budget and by as much as $60 million a year later, Drake said.

The measure, HJR 1-F, passed the House by a 75-26 vote, and the Senate, 30-9. Both were approved in their third readings with Clay County Reps. Sam Garrison and Judson Sapp and Sen. Jennifer Bradley all supporting the bill that would increase homestead exemptions from $50,000 to $150,000 in Year 1 and to $250,000 in Year 2. After that, further increases would be based on the Consumer Price Index.

Gov. Ron DeSantis called a Special Session for Monday-through-Wednesday to hammer out his signature piece of legislation. On Monday, June 1, the House settled on raising homestead exemptions and increasing exemptions for school districts by $25,000 in the first year. Late Monday, the House dropped the increase for schools and stripped restrictions for city and county constitutionals like supervisors of elections, clerks of court, law enforcement, tax collectors and property appraisers.

“Schools are exempt — period, full stop, end of story,” said Fleming Island’s Garrison, who is in line to be the next House Speaker.

Garrison argued the carve out was needed to protect schools, which “don’t have that luxury” to raise fees.

“Schools don’t have the ability to be nimble and flexible like local governments do. And that’s why this amendment specifically withdraws our K-12 public education,” he told Florida Politics.

The Senate voted to move HJR 1-F to the ballot, after it passed the House. The measure was a major priority of DeSantis.

Even with schools removed from the measure, Clay would be significantly impacted because it has the highest number of homestead exemptions per capita compared to other counties in Florida, Drake said.

If approved by at least 60% of voters in November, the amendment would lift homestead exemptions for those who own primary residences in the state by the end of the year to $150,000 for 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and tie further increases in the exemption to the Consumer Price Index.

School taxes would not be subject to the increased exemption limit and would stay at $25,000.

Local governments would be limited in what they can fund under this proposal to public safety, infrastructure, schools, debt service and pensions. County constitutional officers like Elections Supervisors, Clerks of Court, Property Appraisers, and County and City Commissions would also be funded. But since the amount of money being cut from ad valorem collections may not change, it may not matter if the constitutionals won’t have budgets to work with.

Like others, Sheriff Michelle Cook was trying to grasp the perplexing and troubling information shortly after the vote Tuesday.

“On the surface, it does appear this could be catastrophic to Clay County and our first responders, period,” she said. “I still have much more information I'd like to gather before I take an official position on it.”

Drake said if the measure is approved by voters, it affects Clay County more than the other 66 counties because it has the highest concentration of homestead exemptions.

“So, there's currently 60,000 homesteads existing in place,” Drake said. “If this were to pass, in Year 2 is whenever the exemption rate would increase to $250,000, it would apply to all millage rates, 37,000 of the 60,000 homesteads would not pay any tax. That’s about 62% of the current homesteads that would not pay any taxes, and that impact to the county is roughly $60 million in ad valorem revenue. That's a tax loss.

“In Year 1, the county would lose approximately 21.5% [of its current $780.6 million budget]. Does that make sense?”

In comparison, Duval County's first-year cut would be 13.4%, while St. Johns' cut would be 12%

No other county would suffer deeper cuts than Clay.  In Year 2, it would lose 34.9%. 

The cities of Keystone Heights and Green Cove Springs, and the Town of Orange Park have their own budgets, and they would also be affected by HJR 1-F if 60% of the voters support the measure in November.

“All people are going to hear is, ‘I don't have to pay,’ and that’s all part of the equation,” Drake said. “That’s more likely than not, going to be true. I think with everything, there's going to be an unintended consequence.”

That’s money to run libraries and parks, to hire firemen and paramedics, police officers and dispatchers, crews to fix potholes, cut grass, infrastructure projects, building permits, code enforcement, public health, animal control, animal shelters and public works projects like clearing clogged sewer drains, downed trees and street floods.

People who pay rent will be affected by the loss of services if the measure is passed by the voters because they stand to lose the public services, Wanamaker said.