DeSantis Signs Property Tax Caps and Transparency Laws Ahead of November 'Save Our Homes' Vote

Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a pair of bills that tighten the rules around local property tax increases and force Florida counties and cities to open their budgets to public view, setting the stage for a far larger fight over homestead taxes that voters will settle in November. The governor signed Senate Bill 4-F and House Bill 1329 this week, framing both as protection for homeowners who have watched local tax bills climb even as the state pushes broader relief.

The two measures arrive as Florida prepares to vote on a constitutional amendment that would exempt a large slice of homestead value from taxation altogether. For now, the new laws do not cut a single homeowner's bill on their own. Instead, they change how local governments are allowed to raise rates and require those governments to show taxpayers, in detail, where the money goes.

Taken together, the bills represent a layered strategy: procedural barriers make it harder for local governments to raise revenue above the rolled-back rate, while transparency mandates give residents the information to challenge those decisions publicly. Whether that combination is enough to satisfy homeowners who have seen assessments climb steadily in recent years remains an open question heading into the summer budget season.

What the new laws do

Senate Bill 4-F rewrites the math that counties, cities and special districts use to set the highest property tax rate they can adopt with a simple majority vote. Under prior law, local governments could raise the so-called rolled-back rate based on growth in Florida's per-capita personal income. The rolled-back rate is the millage that would bring in the same revenue as the year before, excluding new construction. By removing that income-growth adjustment, SB 4-F generally caps the simple-majority levy at the standard rolled-back rate.

Above that line, the bill stacks new supermajority requirements. A millage rate up to 110 percent of the rolled-back rate would require a two-thirds vote of the governing body. Anything higher would require a unanimous vote, a three-fourths vote for larger boards, or direct voter approval at referendum. The effect is to make it procedurally harder for a county commission or city council to push rates up quickly without a broad consensus or a trip to the ballot.

House Bill 1329, titled the Local Government Financial Transparency and Accountability Act, takes a different route. It requires counties and municipalities to publish detailed financial information online, including budget summaries, revenues and expenditures, departmental spending, staffing levels, reserve balances and fund balances. Local governments would also have to issue quarterly reports on employee compensation and adopt annual budget calendars so residents can follow the process from start to finish.

The transparency requirements in HB 1329 apply not just to the general fund but to the full range of funds that local governments operate, giving residents a more complete picture of how public money moves through a jurisdiction. For many smaller municipalities, meeting these reporting standards will require upgrading financial systems and dedicating staff time to publishing information in standardized formats online.

The 10 percent budget exercise

One of the most consequential provisions in HB 1329 requires local officials to run a budget reduction exercise before they adopt a final spending plan. Under the law, governments must identify ways to trim proposed spending by 10 percent without touching essential services such as law enforcement, fire protection and other legally required functions.

Supporters describe the exercise as a discipline mechanism rather than a mandate to actually cut. Local officials are not required to enact the reductions, but they must show taxpayers what a leaner budget would look like and what would be spared. The provision is likely to generate friction at the county and city level, where administrators argue that reserves and staffing decisions are already scrutinized during public budget hearings each summer.

For homeowners, the practical question is whether transparency translates into lower bills. The transparency law gives residents more ammunition at the podium during budget season, but it does not by itself force a rate cut. That is where the larger constitutional question comes in.

Critics of the 10 percent exercise argue that publishing a hypothetical reduction list could mislead the public into believing services are easily trimmed when in fact many local budgets are already lean after years of flat or declining state revenue sharing. Supporters counter that even a theoretical exercise forces department heads and commissioners to articulate priorities clearly, which is itself a form of accountability regardless of whether any cuts follow.

The road to the November ballot

Senate Bill 4-F serves as the implementation bill for a proposed constitutional amendment that voters will consider on the November 3, 2026 statewide ballot. Known by the shorthand Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes, the amendment grew out of a DeSantis proposal that includes several components aimed at permanent relief, among them exempting the first portion of a homestead's value from taxation and establishing a legal schedule for further reductions over time.

The politics are unusually high stakes for a tax measure. Property taxes in Florida fund schools, county services, municipal operations and special districts, and they are levied locally rather than by the state. That structure makes a statewide cut complicated, because reducing homestead taxes shifts pressure onto other revenue sources or onto local budgets that depend heavily on residential property values. Local government associations have warned that aggressive exemptions could strain services in fast-growing counties.

By signing the implementation bill now, the governor locks in the rules that would take effect if voters approve the amendment, giving the campaign a concrete framework to point to rather than an abstract promise. It also lets supporters argue that the accountability guardrails are already law, independent of whatever happens at the ballot box.

The November vote will also test how Florida voters weigh tax relief against concerns about public services. Past ballot campaigns on property tax matters have shown that broad public support for lower taxes can erode when voters weigh specific trade-offs against programs they value, such as school funding, road maintenance and emergency services. The campaign over the next several months will almost certainly center on that trade-off.

What it means for Floridians

For the typical Florida homeowner, the immediate change is informational. Counties and cities will have to post far more financial detail online, and budget hearings this summer will play out under new supermajority rules for any rate increase above the rolled-back line. Homeowners who have complained that rising assessments quietly inflate their bills even when millage rates hold steady will have more visibility into how local governments set those numbers.

The bigger change is deferred to November. If voters approve the Save Our Homes amendment, a substantial share of homestead value could be shielded from taxation, lowering bills for primary residents while leaving second homes, rentals and commercial property under the existing system. If voters reject it, the accountability and rate-cap laws remain in force, but the deeper cut does not happen.

Renters, who do not pay property taxes directly, sit on the sidelines of the homestead debate but are not immune to its effects. Landlords pass property tax costs through to tenants, and any change that alters local revenue could ripple into the services that renters and homeowners alike depend on.

Local impact across the state

The effect of the new caps will vary sharply by region. In fast-growing counties across Central Florida and the Interstate 4 corridor, where new construction and rising values have padded local revenue, the supermajority rules could force more contentious votes when commissions seek to raise rates. In slower-growth areas of North Florida and the Panhandle, where budgets are tighter and reserves thinner, the 10 percent reduction exercise may prove more uncomfortable to stage publicly.

South Florida's large urban counties, including Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, run some of the most complex budgets in the state, with sprawling departments and numerous special districts. The transparency requirements will generate a significant volume of new public reporting in those jurisdictions, and local finance officials will have to build the systems to produce it.

School districts, which levy their own property taxes under a separate framework largely set by the Legislature, are affected differently than general-purpose governments. The homestead amendment's interaction with school funding is one of the details that voters and local officials will be weighing closely before November.

Coastal communities face a particular set of circumstances, since property values in beachfront areas have risen sharply in recent years and homestead exemptions have historically benefited long-term residents more than newer arrivals. The new caps could limit how quickly coastal municipalities can adjust millage rates in response to rapidly changing assessment rolls, adding another layer of complexity for finance directors in those jurisdictions.

What's next

The new transparency and accountability requirements take effect under the timelines written into the bills, and local governments will begin adapting their budget processes for the coming fiscal year. The far larger question moves to the campaign trail, where supporters and opponents of the Save Our Homes amendment will spend the next several months making their case to voters.

Expect local government associations, realtor groups, business organizations and taxpayer advocates to weigh in heavily as November approaches. The amendment requires 60 percent approval to pass, a high bar that has sunk other Florida ballot measures even when they polled well early. For homeowners watching their tax bills, the practical bottom line is simple: the rules just changed, but the biggest decision is still theirs to make at the ballot box.

In the meantime, county commissioners and city council members will face a changed environment at their July and August budget hearings, where the new supermajority thresholds and the 10 percent transparency exercise will both be on display for the first time. Those hearings will offer an early signal of how local governments intend to operate under the new framework and whether the legislative changes translate into genuine budget discipline or simply add paperwork to a process that continues largely as before.