"Persons who are not Florida residents on December 31, 2026, will receive the existing homestead exemption upon qualifying for a homestead exemption, with the increased homestead exemption beginning with the fifth year of exemption, to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution."
That sentence comes from the official ballot summary for Amendment 3. Florida voters decide the amendment on November 3, 2026, and it needs at least 60% approval to pass. Most of the attention has gone to the headline numbers, a $150,000 homestead exemption in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028.
Wildwood brings in a steady stream of new households from other states. The city has said how it would plan for lost revenue if the amendment passes. It would delay capital projects, and the possible delays it has named include projects in downtown and near Middleton.
The proposed homestead exemption
According to the official 2026 constitutional amendment booklet, Amendment 3 raises the homestead exemption "for all non-school taxes" to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, then adjusts it for inflation after that. It takes effect January 1, 2027. The state's Revenue Estimating Conference describes the inflation adjustment as starting in 2029, and it notes that school taxes stay outside the expansion.
Wildwood's homestead tax base
In Wildwood, homestead property makes up a substantial part of the city's tax base.
The Florida League of Cities published a data sheet built from the 2025 Florida Department of Revenue tax rolls. It puts Wildwood's total taxable value at $8,148,582,185, with $3,804,071,118 of that in homestead property. That works out to about 46.7%. The same sheet models a $250,000 exemption. Under it, Wildwood's taxable base would shrink by $2,403,266,732, or 29.5%, and homestead taxable value would fall from about $3.8 billion to $1,400,804,386.
A city that loses close to a third of its taxable base still has to fund police, roads, and parks.
A flat rate that still counts as a tax increase
Wildwood's own budget shows how the city is preparing. On October 1, the city announced that commissioners had adopted the fiscal year 2027 budget by a 5-0 vote and kept the millage at 2.8287, which the release called a historic low. The Sumter County Property Appraiser lists the same certified 2026 rate for Wildwood.
Villages-News.com described the same vote as a property tax increase, and both descriptions are accurate. A rate of $2.83 per $1,000 of assessed value matches last year. The outlet reported that the rate counts as a tax increase because it is higher than the rolled-back rate, which it gave as $2.70. The rolled-back rate is the rate that would bring in the same revenue as the year before, not counting new construction. The city expects $27.3 million in property tax revenue for the fiscal year.
The total budget is $228 million, down 18.5% from $280 million. Villages-News reported that most of the drop came after the city paid off more than half the cost of its $150 million wastewater treatment plant. The budget adds five police officers and raises public safety spending by 27%.
Here is how the city release describes property tax dollars at that rate:
- 30% goes to transportation, for roadway infrastructure and maintenance
- 27% goes to public safety and police services
- 25% goes to recreation and parks
- 16.5% goes to general government services
- 1.5% goes to debt service
Amendment 3 would also limit what counties and cities can spend property taxes on. The approved categories are public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt service, employee retirement benefits, and operations and administration. Recreation and parks, a quarter of Wildwood's current property tax spending, is not on that list. Under the summary, other spending could still be approved by local governing bodies unless general law prohibits it.
What the state projects Wildwood would lose
The Revenue Estimating Conference's municipal impact table projects these losses for Wildwood if the amendment passes:
- $4,404,055 in FY 2027-28
- $8,858,280 in FY 2028-29
- $11,742,080 in FY 2031-32
To give a sense of scale, the first-year loss equals about 16% of the $27.3 million the city expects to collect in FY 2026-27. By FY 2031-32, the projected annual loss is more than twice that first-year figure. For the Sumter County Board of County Commissioners, the same table projects $29,768,065 in lost revenue in FY 2027-28.
In the city's October release, City Manager Jason McHugh said, "This looming unknown has made budgeting that much more challenging," and that staff had prepared "different options that will enable the city to pivot quickly if needed."
The projects that would wait
Sumter County adopted an alternative budget. According to Villages-News.com, Wildwood chose to plan for lost revenue by delaying capital projects instead, and named a proposed police substation near Middleton as one example. Over the summer, the list of possible delays grew longer:
- Martin Theatre redevelopment. The city release describes turning the former Martin Theatre property into a municipal center with a museum, street-level retail, community space, expanded commission chambers, staff offices, and an elevated pedestrian crossing over U.S. 301/Main Street.
- A community and outreach center at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, which the city's October release names as a possible cut.
- Additional Millennium Park improvements, named in both the city release and the July workshop coverage.
- The Middleton police substation, Municipal Services Complex expansion, and water-line upgrades, which appeared on a list of possible reductions in Villages-News.com's July 18 workshop report.
These are all possible delays, not final decisions. The adopted budget does not name a final list. In August, Villages-News.com reported that commissioners called for the amendment's defeat at their third budget workshop. The same outlet's September coverage noted that supporters hope Florida will eventually become the first state to eliminate property taxes.
Buyers who choose Wildwood partly because of plans for downtown Main Street should know that much of the civic side of those plans now depends on the November vote.
The other half of the amendment: non-homestead property
Amendment 3 would also lower the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. The summary also says the Legislature would have to set a uniform procedure that lets counties and cities raise the homestead exemption for their own levies, all the way up to full assessed value. Special districts could do the same with referendum approval. If the amendment passes, the exemption amounts in the summary would be a floor that local governments could raise.
Frequently asked questions
Does Amendment 3 change school property taxes? The larger exemption applies to non-school taxes. School levies stay outside the expansion, according to the ballot summary and the Revenue Estimating Conference.
When would the changes take effect? The amendment's effective date is January 1, 2027, and the exemption rises to $250,000 in 2028.
Is Wildwood raising its tax rate? No. The FY 2027 rate stays at 2.8287 mills, the same as last year. Villages-News.com reported that it counts as a tax increase because it sits above the rolled-back rate.
Where can I read the amendment itself? The full text and ballot summary are in the Florida Division of Elections amendment booklet, and the city's adopted budget is under Government Transparency at wildwood-fl.gov.
