The title and summary of a property tax cut proposal to be placed on the November ballot contain political rhetoric and are misleading, and must be redrafted, a Leon Circuit Court judge ruled late Monday.
“Voters are entitled to a fair, clear, accurate and non-misleading ballot statement to assist them in making their critical determination,” Judge David Frank wrote in his 18-page ruling. “The present ballot language would deprive the voters of the opportunity to make a meaningful decision.”
The proposal was drafted by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has toured the state slamming the spike in property tax revenues over the last six years by local governments. The measure increases the homestead exemption from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and raises it to $250,000 in 2028. Another provision reduces the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead properties from 10 percent to 5 percent.
But before passing it the GOP-led Legislature changed the measure to carve out the portion of property tax bills that pay for public schools from the increase in the homestead exemption.
A spokeswoman for DeSantis did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment Tuesday.
The ruling is a win for the groups that initially brought three different lawsuits against the proposed amendment before they were consolidated into one case.
Among those who brought the legal challenges were Save Our Voters From Misleading Ballot Language, a nonprofit formed to challenge the proposal, Thomas Campenni, former Mayor of Stuart, and Michael Davey, former Mayor of Key Biscayne, former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, and former Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg.
But the victory doesn’t mean the measure will be tossed from the ballot. Under state law, if the ruling isn’t appealed Attorney General James Uthmeier has 10 days to rewrite the ballot summary in line with Frank’s instructions.
“Our goal here right from the beginning was not to take this off the ballot,” Jamie Cole, attorney for Save Our Voters From Misleading Ballot Language, told the News Service of Florida. “We want the voters to have the opportunity to make an informed decision and in order to do that they need fair and accurate language.”
A spokesman for Uthmeier didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Brandes noted the court faces a deadline near the end of the month to get the proper ballot language settled before November ballots are finalized, so any appeal could jeopardize the measure.
“It’s an option but we’ll see if the (Attorney General) exercises it, but they run into a real time crunch if they start doing that,” Brandes said.
In his ruling, Frank detailed specific changes that should be made to the ballot summary.
For example, after stating “this amendment benefits Florida taxpayers by:” the ballot summary uses the phrases “exempting homestead properties from taxation,” “ensuring funding for core services,” “protecting small businesses” and “ensuring fairness for Florida residents.”
None of those phrases should be used, the ruling states, as they are “political rhetoric, not neutral, not explanation.”
Frank also took issue with the ballot summary’s omission of how the measure could change the nature of the “home rule” provisions of the state constitution, which give local governments broad discretion to spend property tax revenues.
Under the proposed amendment, cities and counties would have their property tax spending restricted to a list of approved uses: “public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt service, retirement benefits for employees, operations and administration and, except as prohibited by general law, other expenditures approved by county officers or county or municipal governing bodies.”
Critics of the proposal have argued that would give the Legislature, not local governments, the final say over their budgets.
“The amendment purports to change the constitutional baseline of city and county power by placing in the Constitution for the first time the Legislature’s right to control ad valorem tax spending,” Frank wrote.
–Gray Rohrer, News Service of Florida
Dennis C Rathsam says
If the sheriffs, a little slow getting to your home, buy a gun, if the garbage man don’t come, burn it out back. If the firemen are coming, make sure you have 3 fire extinguishers & 2 hoses til the get there. Lets stop the drama folks, we ve been getting screwed for years with over priced under educated employees….Im a yes vote, & I will servive, with more Benny’s in my pocket, & you will too!
Mike Cocchiola says
Dennis, we don’t live in the Wild West in 1870. We don’t live in a wooden shack on the Kansas plains. We have evolved way beyond that. We don’t need to arm ourselves to hold off the criminals. We don’t need to try to put out flames engulfing our homes with a couple of hoses, and we don’t need to burn smelly and potentially toxic refuse in the backyard. We collectively fund first responders to protect us, and trash haulers to keep our community clean.
It seems you would be more comfortable in the 19th century. Good for you. The rest of us live happily in 21st-century Palm Coast. Our taxes buy us schools, libraries, law enforcement, firemen and women, roads, sidewalks, landscaping, hiking paths, sports venues, and a host of other amenities that I’m sure the majority of citizens would vote to keep.
Vote NO on DeSantis’ power grab.
Koyote says
“But the victory doesn’t mean the measure will be tossed from the ballot. Under state law, if the ruling isn’t appealed Attorney General James Uthmeier has 10 days to rewrite the ballot summary in line with Frank’s instructions.”
I still see nothing about the repercussions if Uthmeier pulls the now-standard Republican response of just ignoring legal decisions … and going ahead with whatever he’s going to do with a “So whaddya gonna do about it ?” attitude that usually results in a stern talking-to – and a lot of mealy-mouthed politicians spouting garbage like “Well, it was misconstrued”, or (my favorite) “I haven’t seen the (note, post, email, whatever) so I can’t comment on it” – This one gets me – cause it’s usually a public event being referenced, and it’s been all over the news for days – but they ‘haven’t seen it’ and can’t comment .. sure.
So, bottom line – If Uthmeier DOESN’T meet the requirements in the timeframe – what happens?
Skibum says
If the FL AG doesn’t rewrite the proposed amendment title and language within the 10 days, or decides to appeal and runs out of time for the final, approved ballot measure to be included when ballots are printed and distributed to the state’s voters, then it is my understanding that this amendment gets passed over and is not included on the ballots for the upcoming election.
Koyote says
SkiBum:
I would hope that that would be the case (invalidated due to unwillingness to follow court-mandated changes) … but I would like to see it stated somewhere from someone with the authority to enforce it. Even then, I wouldn’t put it past Uthmeier to ignore the court order anyways. What’s a violation of a little court order when you’ve already gotten away with stealing $30 million plus for other political campaigns?
Laurel says
Let’s stop and think about this for just a moment. I’ve already posted, several times, that the plan has no answers about how it will effect us after the fact, but some of y’all have blind faith that it will be all unicorns and butterflies, and now, guns and trash burning.
Let’s think about who is presenting this amendment: DeSantis.
“The Hope Florida scandal involves allegations that the Hope Florida Foundation, founded by First Lady Casey DeSantis, received $10 million from a Medicaid contractor’s settlement and directed it to political groups opposing a 2024 marijuana legalization ballot measure. Investigations into potential money laundering and wire fraud were opened in 2025 but stalled due to lack of cooperation.”
– Search Assist, Wikipedia, WLRN
Let’s look at DeSantis’ Attorney General, James Uthmeier:
“The Uthmeier scandal involves allegations of political corruption related to the Hope Florida Foundation, where Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is accused of directing non-profits to funnel money to a political action committee, raising concerns of money laundering and wire fraud. Investigations into these claims have been ongoing since 2025.”
– Search Assist, Wikipedia
Now, why on Earth would you think these people are looking out for your best interest? Are y’all really that naive? Try thinking a little deeper, dig a little deeper, and wonder what these people are up to. How much better off are you lately? How’s your insurance? How are food prices, housing prices? One guy here said “keep me in the dark.” Is that how you run your lives and your finances? Is that the world you want to leave your kids?
Think about this for awhile.
Koyote says
@Laurel:
$10 million was just the tip ….
“Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration diverted more than $35 million in taxpayer funds — an amount far greater than previously known — as part of a brazen agenda last year to defeat two ballot amendments he staunchly opposed, a Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times investigation has found.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article313630394.html
Laurel says
If the current politicians really cared about what the people want, and voted for, they wouldn’t need to cheat through gerrymandering and trying to keep citizens from voting. Seventy-one percent of American citizens don’t like it, on both sides of the isle.
DeSantis overrode the people’s vote on people who served their time being able to vote.
DeSantis has fired people, who were voted into office.
Byron Donalds claims he will overturn the 60% majority vote if it succeeds regarding property tax.
They don’t care. The are backed by big money, and that’s all that matters.
Fair Tax says
There is no doubt in my mind that DeStanis and his administration is corrupt and only has his own political ambitions in mind. However, my property taxes are much more than I would like them to be, and I don’t appreciate my tax dollars being spent on anything other than core services. Emergency Services, Education and Environmental initiatives should be funded at all costs – fairly funded not granted a windfall.
Anything else, I would like to see managed better or cut out completely. Items like Parks and Rec., are nice and I do appreciate that it is needed, at sone level; but I would much rather these types of needs to be funded by tax-free churches or patrons and not funded by property taxes
I don’t see the 250k exemption on homesteaded property as unreasonable. I think other methods of taxation are fairer and more distributed.
It costs no more to provide such services to me than to others. However, because I have a nicer home, that I worked very hard for, I am hit with an ever-growing tax bill each year and will likely need to sell my home and move as property values and taxes continue to go up.
I don’t fault Flagler County, I think they do a fairly go job at managing costs (I’m not in the City of Palm Coast so will not comment).
I would much rather be hit by sales tax than property tax.
It’s not a simple problem, but status quo is not the answer either.