Proposed State Property Tax Cuts Could Slash Seminole County Budgets, Services

A proposed Florida constitutional amendment that cleared the state House at the end of February could eliminate most non-school property taxes on homesteaded properties, and Seminole County Property Appraiser David Johnson is calling the measure "fairly draconian" as his office races to calculate what it would cost locally.

HJR 203 would exempt all homestead properties from non-school property taxes beginning Jan. 1, 2027, though separate source language describes the measure as phasing out most property taxes over a decade. The bill's exact mechanism remains subject to confirmation against the bill text, but both characterizations point to the same outcome: a dramatic reduction in the tax base that funds local government services. The measure now awaits action in the Florida Senate.

The financial stakes for Seminole County are concrete. Johnson said roughly 44% of the county's property tax revenue comes from homesteaded properties. If that revenue disappears, "we've got 56% left," he said. "That's huge, and it's not a little trimming around the edges. It's hundreds of millions of dollars."

His office has already modeled the damage across Seminole County's seven incorporated cities. The combined estimated tax revenue reduction for Altamonte Springs, Casselberry, Lake Mary, Longwood, Oviedo, Sanford, and Winter Springs totals approximately $45.3 million, according to the Seminole County Property Appraiser's Office. Per-city breakdowns have not yet been released publicly. Johnson and his staff have been meeting with county and city officials to walk through the projections as local governments try to assess their exposure before the Senate acts.

"The proposal that's out there right now, it's fairly draconian," Johnson said. "And it has a huge effect on property values across the state and tax revenues across the state."

In Oviedo, a city official identified in reports only as Sladek put the service threat in blunt terms. "We would have to make some very significant changes because we don't even at this time collect enough in property tax to cover the cost of running our police and fire department, let alone parks and rec and everything else," Sladek said. When asked whether Oviedo was already gaming out contingency plans, Sladek confirmed that staff had begun discussing "what hard decisions would have to be made."

Sladek also offered a prediction about what ultimately reaches voters: "You're going to see some elements of this proposal on the November ballot, but I don't think this is the actual proposal just because of the huge cost, not only here in Seminole County but across the state."

Johnson echoed that skepticism about the current bill's path, telling News 6 that it's likely lawmakers will end up in a special session to address the budgetary fallout if any version of the proposal advances.

Key details still require verification before the full picture comes into focus. The per-city revenue loss figures for each of the seven municipalities have not been released, and the precise mechanism of HJR 203, whether it cuts taxes immediately starting in 2027 or phases them out across ten years, needs to be confirmed against the official bill text. Sladek's full name and title were not included in available reporting, and Johnson's reference to "hundreds of millions of dollars" has not been clarified as either a statewide or county-specific estimate.

What is clear is that Johnson's office is not waiting for the Senate to move before sounding the alarm. The scale of potential revenue loss, nearly half of the county's property tax base, would force every city from Sanford to Winter Springs to make choices that could reshape the services Seminole County residents depend on daily.