This November 3, your ballot carries two chances to cut your property taxes: Amendment 3 — the homestead-exemption amendment (CS/HJR 1-F) — and the choice of who writes the law that implements it. I'm an engineer, so I'm going to do what this campaign always does: show you the numbers, cite every one of them, and tell you honestly what the trade-offs are. Then I'll tell you where I stand.
District 90's median home is worth $370,400, against a median household income of $76,862 (U.S. Census, ACS 2024 5-year). Stack property taxes on top of the nation's highest home-insurance premiums, and families here are being squeezed out of houses they already own. For our seniors — the district's median age is 47.1, well above Florida and the nation — every tax increase lands directly on a fixed income.
And the current homestead exemption hasn't kept up. Today it's roughly $50,000 — precisely, about $51,411 in 2026, because part of it is indexed to inflation (Pinellas County Property Appraiser). On a $370,400 home, that shields less than 14% of the value. The rest is taxed.
On your ballot it now appears under the court-ordered title "Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments" — Leon County Circuit Judge David Frank ruled the original wording misleading, and the Attorney General released rewritten language on August 14, 2026 (CBS Miami; Florida Politics). Same amendment, new label. Here's what it does, per the official bill and county property appraiser summaries:
If it passes, the savings first appear on your August 2027 TRIM notice and November 2027 tax bill (Pinellas PAO).
Our calculator on The Data page estimates the district's median home saves about $2,300 a year at the full $250,000 exemption, using a typical 11.5-mill Palm Beach County non-school rate — roughly $1,150 a year in 2027 at $150,000. That estimate holds up against independent numbers: the Pinellas County Property Appraiser's worked example at its ~12.2-mill average comes out to ~$1,203 in 2027 and ~$2,423 in 2028. Many Boynton Beach and Lake Worth Beach homeowners, where non-school millage runs higher, would save more.
One honest caveat, because every number here should be checkable: the exemption applies to your assessed (Save Our Homes-capped) value, not market value. Longtime owners with low assessed values may see their entire non-school bill go to zero — which is the design, not a loophole.
I won't pretend this is free money. Legislative staff estimate local revenue reductions of roughly $4.6 billion in the first year, growing to about $8.4 billion in the second (Tax Foundation, citing the House staff analysis), and the state Revenue Estimating Conference puts the recurring figure near $12 billion (Florida Policy Institute). Locally, Palm Beach County estimates its board-department funding could drop from about $609 million to $376 million — a 38% cut — with parks, libraries, and the Sheriff's budget in the discussion (WLRN, June 11, 2026).
A slogan campaign would skip that paragraph. An engineering campaign puts it at the center — because the amendment sets the exemption, but the Legislature writes the implementing law that decides how the transition works and whether essential local services are protected. That law gets written in 2027, by whoever is in the room.
I'm voting yes on Amendment 3, and here is the job I'm asking you to hire me for:
1. Help write the implementing law from inside the governing majority — 83 Republicans to 34 Democrats in the 120-seat House, with three seats vacant (official House member roster, August 2026) — with state-level backfill and phase-in flexibility on the table so sheriff, fire, and core local services aren't gutted while homeowners get the relief voters approved. 2. Hold the line on the "core services" guarantee — public safety, education, infrastructure, and natural resources — so relief comes out of waste and lower-priority spending first. 3. Publish the math, as always: a plain-English accounting of what the law does to District 90 households and to Palm Beach County's budget, posted where anyone can check it.
The contrast on this issue is a question of starting points. In most of Palm Beach County, the default question every budget season is how much more can we collect? — 35 of the county's 37 municipalities, plus the county, the school district and the special districts, proposed rates above rollback in the most recent cycle. My starting point is the opposite: can we give it back?
Amendment 3 needs 60% voter approval — and the polls say that's genuinely in doubt. A June Sachs Media poll found 64% support; a July UNF poll found 61% — but support dropped to 45% when voters were told of an estimated $11.8 billion local budget shortfall (WINK News; Newsweek). Independents — the same 27,112 NPA voters who decide this House seat — are right at the threshold, at 62% support.
So the affordability ballot in District 90 is one trip to the polls, two votes: yes on Amendment 3, and a representative who will sit in the majority that writes the implementing law — delivering the relief without gutting the services we count on. Check every number above against the sources below. If you find one that's wrong, send it to me with a source, and I'll fix it and say that I did.
— Ionel Roiban, Republican for Florida House, District 90
Every figure on this page is sourced. Find an error? Send me the source and I will fix it.
Updated: 2026-09-04