Two property-tax questions on Tuesday's ballot: Amendment 3 and the $100 million conservation bond

What's on the ballot

St. Johns County votes Tuesday, Nov. 3, at 42 precincts, open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. A vote-by-mail ballot has to reach the Elections Office at 4455 Avenue A by 7 p.m.; it will not be accepted at a polling place. Below the statewide races, the ballot carries a School Board seat, city commission seats, contested seats on the mosquito control, airport and port boards, and two questions that pull county property taxes in opposite directions.

The first is Amendment 3, a statewide constitutional amendment the Legislature placed on the ballot. It needs at least 60% of voters statewide to pass. The second is a county question titled "St. Johns County General Obligation Bonds to Conserve Land, Natural Resources, Farms and Forests." It needs a simple majority of county voters.

Amendment 3: a bigger homestead exemption, with a wait for newcomers

According to the county's own explainer, Amendment 3 would replace the current homestead exemption for non-school property taxes (county, city, special district and other non-school levies) with an exemption of up to $150,000 starting Jan. 1, 2027, rising to $250,000 starting in January 2028, then adjusted each year for inflation starting in January 2029.

School taxes would not change. The school levy would keep the current $25,000 homestead exemption.

Two other pieces matter for people moving here:

• A five-year residency rule. People who establish permanent Florida residency on or after Jan. 1, 2027, would have to wait five years before qualifying for the higher exemption amounts.
• A tighter cap on non-homestead property. The annual cap on assessment increases for most non-homestead property, which includes second homes, rentals and commercial buildings, would drop from 10% to 5%.

The amendment would also limit county and city property-tax dollars to seven core categories, including public safety, infrastructure, natural resource and flood-control projects, existing debt, and retirement benefits. If approved, it takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, and would first show up on the August 2027 TRIM notices and the tax bills mailed in November 2027. The county notes the Legislature would still have to pass implementing laws, so some administrative details aren't known yet.

The numbers for the county budget

The county puts its fiscal 2027 property-tax revenue at about $426 million. Using estimates from the state's Office of Economic and Demographic Research, it says Amendment 3 would reduce that revenue by about:

• $68.3 million in fiscal 2028 (16%)
• $136.1 million in fiscal 2029 (32%)
• $152.5 million in fiscal 2030 (36%)
• $171.2 million in fiscal 2031 (40%)
• $191.6 million in fiscal 2032 (45%)

For context, the county's fiscal 2027 allocation of property-tax dollars sends 31% to the Sheriff's Office, 27% to Fire Rescue and emergency services, 13% to roads and transportation, and 7% to parks, recreation and libraries. The county says its revenue estimates don't identify any specific service cuts; those would go through the public budget process.

It has already started preparing. The county says $100 million in capital improvement projects are on hold, about $8.6 million in positions and vacant-position funding will be reassessed after the election, and it has set aside $31.2 million in emergency response reserves plus another $30 million in General Fund reserves for financial resiliency. The county does not take a position for or against the amendment.

The $100 million conservation bond

The county question would let St. Johns County issue up to $100 million in general obligation bonds, in one or more rounds, each repaid within 20 years. The money would go to the county's Land Acquisition and Management Program, known as LAMP, to acquire, restore and manage land that protects water quality, wildlife habitat or natural areas, preserves working farms and forests, provides outdoor recreation, or reduces flooding.

Repayment would come from a new property tax capped at 0.15 mills, or 15 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. At the cap, that's:

• $45 a year on $300,000 of taxable value
• $75 a year on $500,000
• $112.50 a year on $750,000
• $150 a year on $1 million

Taxable value is what's left after exemptions such as homestead, so for most homeowners it's lower than what the house would sell for. The tax ends once the bonds are paid off, and borrowing less would mean paying less. The interest rate isn't known; it's set when bonds are sold. The cap limits the tax, not the rate, so higher rates would mean the county could borrow less and buy less land.

LAMP buys only from willing sellers, and the County Commission has to approve each purchase. Today LAMP gets $500,000 a year, plus a one-time $1.5 million approved in January. Supporters told commissioners in August that state and federal matching grants and private donations could stretch $100 million to $300 million or more. If the measure fails, LAMP keeps its current budget and the county can still buy conservation land with other money.

How the commission split

Commissioners voted 3-2 on Aug. 18 to put the bond on the ballot. Chair Clay Murphy, Ann Taylor and Krista Joseph voted yes. Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst voted no and said their concern was timing, not conservation: Arnold said voters were being asked to cut their property taxes and raise them on the same day, and Whitehurst said uncertainty about the state's property-tax changes made it hard to support now. Taylor said she had timing concerns too, but that no one can know when the right time would be.

Supporters also point to the state's new agricultural enclave law. Under it, 16 applications have been filed in the county and about 550 acres approved for development so far. We covered where those stand in our enclave story.

Property taxes for people who move here

• A primary home with Florida residency established before Jan. 1, 2027: Amendment 3's five-year wait applies to people who establish residency on or after that date. Confirm the details with the St. Johns County Property Appraiser. The implementing law is not written yet.
• Residency established in 2027 or later: If Amendment 3 passes, the current homestead exemption applies for the first five years. The larger exemption starts after that wait.
• Second homes and rentals in St. Augustine Beach, Vilano and the North Beaches and St. Augustine: A 5% assessment cap instead of 10% would slow how fast taxable value can climb on non-homestead property.
• Fast-growing areas such as Nocatee, Northwest St. Johns and World Golf Village: Road and capital projects are the kind of spending the county has paused. How quickly they resume depends partly on Tuesday's result. The bond, if it passes, would give the county more money to compete for land before it's developed, but only from willing sellers.
• Everywhere, including Ponte Vedra Beach: At the cap, the bond adds $15 a year per $100,000 of taxable value to every property-tax bill.

Our take

This is our opinion, based on the sources below.

The two questions are tied together in a way that's easy to miss. Amendment 3 is about how much of the county's budget comes from property taxes at all; the bond is a small, dedicated levy for one purpose. Even at the cap, the bond costs a typical homesteaded household tens of dollars a year. Amendment 3, by the state's estimate, would take 16% of county property-tax revenue in its first year and 45% by 2032 in a county that spends most of that money on deputies and fire rescue. Those are very different scales, and we'd read them that way.

If Amendment 3 passes, a person who establishes Florida residency in 2027 pays non-school taxes under different rules from a neighbor who established residency in 2026, for up to five years. The amendment needs 60% of the statewide vote. The implementing law is not written.

On the bond, the commission's split was about timing, not about whether land is worth saving. In a county where farmland is being certified for subdivisions under a new state law, a willing-seller program with $500,000 a year buys very little. Whether $100 million is the right answer is for voters, but the tradeoff is real either way.

What to watch next: Tuesday night's results; if Amendment 3 passes, the implementing laws in the 2027 legislative session; which of the $100 million in paused county projects come back; and, if the bond passes, the first properties LAMP brings to the commission.