‘It threatens everything’: Miami-Dade mayor launches campaign against Fla. tax cut

Miami-Dade County admin September 2, 2026 0 Comments

‘It threatens everything’: Miami-Dade mayor launches campaign against Fla. tax cut

Although lower tax bills might be tempting, voters also need to consider the consequences of a sharp cut in revenue for local police departments, ambulance providers, and the bus and parks systems, Miami-Dade’s mayor said Wednesday as she launched a campaign opposing a state referendum to cut property taxes.

“It threatens everything from public safety and emergency response to our roads, parks, our libraries,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, said during a press conference taking aim at Amendment 3, the tax-cut proposal backed by Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature. “These are not luxuries. These are basic, essential services that protect our lives, our families and our neighborhoods.”

Levine Cava is also raising money in a political action committee, No on 3 Protect Our Homes, to oppose the referendum, which requires a 60% margin of approval statewide to become law. The amendment would increase the property-tax exemption from $50,000 to $250,000 on primary homes by 2028. That would mean significant revenue reductions for local governments across Florida.

In Miami-Dade, the estimate is a roughly 20% cut on the $3 billion in property taxes that fund county services, including jails, ambulances, police, transit and the Jackson Health hospital system.

As one of the largest local governments in Florida, Miami-Dade has been a top punching bag for supporters of Amendment 3 in Tallahassee. Property-tax revenue went up nearly 60% over the last five years, even as the tax rate has dropped slightly. In 2022 and 2023, Levine Cava secured back-to-back reductions of 1% for the countywide property-tax rate.

Backers of the Amendment 3 proposal say the tax cuts would force local governments to reduce spending in a meaningful way without the kind of austerity that would mean rollbacks in public safety or other core services.

But at Levine Cava’s event outside Miami-Dade’s main library in downtown Miami, local elected leaders warned voters to consider what services will look like after a sharp drop in tax revenue.

“If you are a senior who takes the buses for free, this matters to you. If you’re someone who’s going to call the police and want them to get there in a reasonable time, this matters to you,” said Miami-Dade Commissioner Oliver Gilbert, who recently won the Democratic primary to succeed Rep. Frederica Wilson in Congress.

Karyn Cunningham, the outgoing mayor of Palmetto Bay, represents a bedroom community where about 60% property taxes come from houses with “homestead” protections — the legal term for the kind of primary homes that would get the tax break under Amendment 3. Cunningham said Palmetto Bay relies on those property taxes to fund its police department, the village’s largest expense. She urged voters to think about what local governments would need to do to compensate for lost funding if Amendment 3 becomes law.

“Get to know the numbers and get to know the facts,” she said. “Do your homework before voting in November.”