St. Johns County freezes hiring and pauses a Beachwalk fire station after Amendment 3

What happened

Florida voters approved Amendment 3 on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Six days later, Commission Chair Clay Murphy told News4JAX the hiring freeze is permanent. "No more hiring," he said. "And that's now permanent because we can't afford to hire anybody new right now until we get a handle on what it's going to look like."

About $100 million in capital projects is on hold, including a planned fire station in the Beachwalk area. Murphy said the county has to reconsider a $120 million bond the previous board approved for parks, fire stations, and libraries, and that new buildings make sense only if the county can afford to maintain them. Jacksonville Today republished the report on Nov. 11 with an illustration captioned as planned Fire Station 22 and a Sheriff's Office operations center. The article text calls that paused station the Beachwalk-area one.

Parks and recreation, libraries, and Health and Human Services are under review as non-mandated services. Murphy gave a hypothetical, and he labeled it as one: eliminating those three would come to about $50 million, against an example he set at $65 million. News4JAX said no formal decisions have been made. A public discussion is being scheduled for a December commission meeting. He said that implementing the cuts "is going to be painful." News4JAX reported his goal as genuine budget reductions, with new fees left out of the plan he described.

What was already in motion

County Administrator Joy Andrews had staff start this review in May, before the vote. The county's Sept. 11, 2026 page says the work covered services, staffing, contracts, capital projects, and funding, including 380 services across 18 departments and a review of 1,137 existing fees.

In June the Capital Improvement Project Oversight Committee labeled projects continue, pause, or defer while the outcome was unknown. The criteria were life-safety and legal requirements, outside funding, reliance on property taxes, how far the work had gotten, community need, and the cost of pausing and restarting. Chair Daniel Whitcraft said, "Placing these projects on hold does not mean they have been canceled."

That page is the pre-election plan. After the vote, Andrews said more than 60% of residents had voted for a lower property-tax structure. She said the amendment "is subject to interpretation, particularly regarding which categories of services can and cannot be funded with property taxes." Election-night totals and the conservation bond are in our Nov. 4 results note. The ballot language is in the Nov. 2 ballot note.

The numbers that matter

• $68.3 million in fiscal 2028, $136.1 million in fiscal 2029, and $191.6 million in fiscal 2032. The Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research estimated those property-tax losses for the county. News4JAX, the county's Sept. 11 page, and the Ledger all cite them. The Ledger said the county also projected cumulative losses exceeding $700 million over five years.
• Murphy, to News4JAX: "losing 15% of your ad valorem tax revenue year one, 30% year two, and then at year five, we're going to be at about 45% of our ad valorem tax revenue, but just gone."
• About $426 million a year in property taxes, through the general fund, the fire district, and the transportation trust fund. At a Sept. 29 town hall, Andrews put the first-year reduction at about 16% of that revenue and the second year at about 32%, the Ledger reported. Murphy's 15% and 30% are the other published roundings.
• $109.38 million by fiscal 2029 in nonschool property-tax revenue. The Ledger, citing the Jacksonville Daily Record, attributed that estimate to the Florida Association of Counties. The county's EDR figure for the same year, in that story, is $136.1 million.
• About $100 million paused out of roughly $800 million in capital projects, which Andrews described at the town hall. The full paused list is not in these stories. News4JAX named the Beachwalk-area fire station.
• $8.6 million in position funding flagged for reassessment: $4 million for vacant positions, $2 million in fiscal 2027 positions not recommended, and $2.6 million in recommended fiscal 2027 positions that were paused, from the Sept. 11 page. At the town hall, Andrews described exceptions for public safety, legal requirements, and grant-funded positions. On Nov. 9 Murphy called the freeze permanent. The News4JAX headline describes these steps as planned staff cuts.
• $31.2 million in emergency response reserves and $30 million in General Fund reserves for financial resiliency. Andrews called them one-time resources. Budget director Wade Schroeder said utility revenue, solid waste assessments, and golf, pier, and beach receipts are restricted to their own uses.
• $120 million. Murphy said the previous board approved that bond for parks, fire stations, and libraries, and that this board has to reconsider it. News4JAX reported no new vote.
• The homestead exemption rises from $50,000 to $150,000 on Jan. 1, 2027, and to $250,000 on Jan. 1, 2028, with inflation adjustments to the maximum beginning in 2029. The yearly cap on non-homestead assessment increases drops from 10% to 5%. The Ledger said the amendment also directs state lawmakers to eventually eliminate homestead property taxes altogether.

What it means if you're moving here

• A house you will homestead. On those dates the larger exemption can lower taxable value for the non-school taxes this amendment covers. Who qualifies in which year, including people who are not yet Florida residents, is in the Nov. 2 ballot note and the Nov. 4 results note. The homestead note is the 2026 exemption. Ask the Property Appraiser to run the house. These sources include no sample bill under the new amounts.
• A second home or a rental. The $150,000 and $250,000 figures are homestead exemptions. The 5% figure is the new cap on year-over-year assessment increases for non-homestead property, including second homes and rentals in Ponte Vedra Beach, St. Augustine Beach, Vilano and the North Beaches, and St. Augustine, and non-homestead property across the county.
• Beachwalk. News4JAX named a planned fire station here among the paused projects. Treat an opening date for that station as paused until the commission acts. These reports give no response time for Beachwalk streets today. Ask the county fire service which station covers the address. Homes are listed on the Beachwalk homes page at ancientcitystays.com.
• Nocatee and the County Road 210 area beside Beachwalk. These reports do not name a separate Nocatee fire station, park, or library in the $100 million, and they do not discuss HOA or CDD amenity budgets. Confirm a county park, library, or the $120 million bond project with the county before you treat a builder map as a schedule.
• World Golf Village. These stories name the Beachwalk-area station. They do not name a World Golf Village fire station in the hold. Parks, libraries, and new county buildings that add staff are in the same review, including the bond.
• Northwest St. Johns shares the parks, libraries, and Health and Human Services review. Murphy's about $50 million was a hypothetical for eliminating all three. News4JAX reported no closure vote as of Nov. 9.

Our take

This is our opinion, based on the sources below.

The exemption amounts have effective dates. On Nov. 9, the Beachwalk station, the $120 million bond, and the department reviews were still waiting on the commission. State estimates put the county's property-tax loss at $68.3 million in fiscal 2028 and $191.6 million by fiscal 2032. Andrews described the $31.2 million and $30 million reserves as one-time money, and Schroeder said other large local revenues are restricted to their own uses. Those reserves can carry a hard year. The estimates show the annual loss still larger in 2032.

A buyer can keep the tax bill separate from the building schedule. Murphy has called the freeze permanent. The Sept. 29 town hall still has Andrews describing exceptions for public safety, legal requirements, and grant-funded jobs. If a station, park, or library is part of why a house's price makes sense, ask the county which list that project is on.

What to watch next

• The December commission discussion. Murphy said it is being scheduled. The Nov. 9 report had no date.
• The fiscal 2028 budget, the first year of the EDR loss estimate, at $68.3 million.
• Any published list of the paused $100 million, and any vote on the Beachwalk-area fire station.
• Any new action on the $120 million bond for parks, fire stations, and libraries.
• A hiring rule that says whether public-safety, legal, and grant-funded jobs remain outside the freeze Andrews described on Sept. 29.