Amendment 3 Passed: Find Out Exactly How Much You'll Save on Your Palm Coast Tax Bill

Florida voters approved Amendment 3 on Tuesday night, with about 62 percent voting yes against the 60 percent it needed. The larger homestead exemption starts January 1, 2027. Over the last two weeks I wrote about how the amendment came together and what it would do city by city. Now that it has passed, this post answers the question I have been getting all day: what does it mean for me, and when?

Find out exactly how much you will save. Type your address below. The calculator pulls your assessed value and homestead status from the 2026 tax roll for Flagler, Volusia or St. Johns County and shows what comes off your bill in 2027 and 2028, plus how much your mortgage payment could drop if your taxes are paid through escrow.

Below the numbers: what changed, when the lower bill and payment actually arrive, who needs to do something, and what to watch at the city and county.

What changed

• A bigger homestead exemption on everything except school taxes. Today a homesteaded home gets about $51,000 off its assessed value for county, city and special-district taxes. That becomes $150,000 for the 2027 tax year and $250,000 for 2028, then rises with inflation from 2029 on. The school lines on your bill, which are usually the largest, do not change.
• A lower cap for everything that is not a homestead. Second homes, rentals, commercial buildings and vacant land were capped at a 10 percent assessment increase per year. That is now 5 percent.
• A residency date. Anyone who was a Florida resident by December 31, 2026 gets the full new exemption as soon as they have a homestead. People who move to Florida after that date keep today's exemption for four years and get the full amount in year five.

About the numbers in the calculator

The assessed value and homestead status come straight from the county's 2026 tax roll (Flagler, Volusia or St. Johns), the same numbers on your TRIM notice. Flagler and Volusia rates are Florida TaxWatch's city figures; St. Johns rates come from the Tax Collector's 2026 millage sheet. If the calculator cannot find your address, grab your TRIM notice from August or the tax bill that just arrived, find the line that says assessed value (not market value or just value), and enter it by hand. You can also look your address up in the Flagler County Property Appraiser's property search; the assessed value is on the parcel page.

Two things to know about the result. First, assessed value is often well under what your home would sell for. Save Our Homes has capped assessment growth on homesteads at 3 percent a year since 1995, so a home bought in 2005 can carry an assessed value of $220,000 while the house next door that sold last year is assessed at $450,000. The exemption works against the assessed number, so longtime owners with low assessments see smaller dollar savings and may see their non-school lines drop to zero. Second, the rates in the calculator are this year's. Every taxing authority sets its rate again next summer, and the amendment limits how far they can raise it, which I cover below.

When your mortgage payment goes down

If your lender collects taxes and insurance with your payment, the savings show up as a lower monthly payment, but not right away. Here is the order things happen:

• November 2026: the bill in your mailbox now is for the 2026 tax year. Nothing changes on it.
• January 1, 2027: the $150,000 exemption applies to your homestead for the 2027 tax year.
• August 2027: your TRIM notice shows the new exemption. Check that it is there.
• November 2027: the first lower tax bill goes out. If you escrow, your servicer pays it.
• Your next escrow review, usually early 2028: the lender sees the lower bill, recalculates, lowers your payment and refunds any surplus that built up. If you want it sooner, call the servicer after the bill is out and ask for an escrow analysis.
• November 2028: the exemption steps up to $250,000 and the bill drops again, with the payment following at the next review.

For a Palm Coast home assessed at $300,000 or more, that works out to roughly $100 a month less after the 2027 bill and about $200 a month less after the 2028 bill, at this year's rates. Pay your taxes yourself? You simply write a smaller check in November 2027 and again in November 2028.

Do I have to do anything?

You already have a homestead exemption: no new application. The Property Appraiser applies the exemption to the roll. Just read your August 2027 TRIM notice and call the office at (386) 313-4150 if the numbers look off.

You bought a home in 2026 and have not filed for homestead yet: this is the one deadline that matters. You need to own the home and live in it as your permanent residence on January 1, 2027, and file your homestead application by March 1, 2027. In Flagler County, first-time applicants file in person at the Property Appraiser's office in the Government Services Building, 1769 E. Moody Blvd., Building 2, Suite 201 in Bunnell. Bring a Florida driver's license showing the new address, your vehicle registration, your voter registration if you vote, and a copy of the deed or tax bill. Miss the deadline and you wait a full year for both the regular exemption and the new one. The same goes if you sold one Flagler County home and bought another this year: the exemption does not follow you, so you need a new application.

You are moving to Florida from another state: the December 31, 2026 date is about residency, not closing. Someone who establishes Florida residency this year, even renting, and buys a home in 2027 qualifies for the full exemption. Someone who arrives in January 2027 gets today's exemption for four years. The Property Appraiser's office is the right place to ask what counts as establishing residency, but a Florida driver's license, voter registration and a declaration of domicile are the usual proof. If you have family planning a move, this is worth a phone call this month.

If you are buying, selling or own a rental

Buyers: the exemption lowers the carrying cost of owning here. On a $400,000 Palm Coast home the full exemption is worth about $2,470 a year, which is about what a full point off the mortgage rate saves on a $320,000 loan. It also means the monthly payment you qualify for stretches a little further, because the tax portion of the escrow estimate drops.

Sellers: buyers who were on the fence about Florida taxes just got an answer, and relocation buyers who establish residency before year end have a reason to get moving. If you were planning to list in the spring, it is a good time to find out what your home is worth today.

Second-home and rental owners: you do not get the homestead exemption, but your assessed value can now rise at most 5 percent a year instead of 10, which matters most in years like 2021 and 2022 when values jumped.

What it costs the city and county, and what to watch

The money comes from somewhere. The City of Palm Coast estimated about $12.4 million less property tax revenue in 2027 and about $21.7 million less in 2028, against roughly $45.5 million in property taxes that fund its general fund today. Flagler County collects about $136 million a year in property taxes, with nearly $65 million of that supporting the sheriff, clerk and the other constitutional officers. Statewide, legislative economists expect local collections to fall by about $5 billion in the first year and about $11.9 billion a year once the exemption is fully in place.

The companion law that passed with the amendment limits how local boards respond. A simple majority can set a rate only up to the rolled-back rate, which brings in the same dollars as the year before. Going above that takes a two-thirds vote of the council or commission, and going more than 10 percent above it takes a unanimous vote or a referendum. So the places to watch are next summer's budget hearings in Palm Coast and Bunnell and at the county, and any new or higher fees, which the amendment does not restrict. I will cover the hearings here as they happen.

Common questions

Does Amendment 3 change my school taxes?

No. The school exemption stays at $25,000 and the school rates are set the same way they are today. For most Flagler County owners the school lines are the largest part of the bill, so nobody's bill goes to zero.

My assessed value is under $150,000. What happens?

Your county, city and special-district lines fall to zero in 2027, and you keep paying only the school lines. You save less in dollars than the city estimates, because those assume enough value to use the whole exemption.

I own a condo in the Hammock but live up north. Do I get anything?

Not the exemption, which is only for a Florida homestead. Your assessment cap drops from 10 percent to 5 percent a year, which limits how fast your taxable value can climb.

Will the exemption keep growing?

Yes. Starting in 2029 the $250,000 is adjusted each year with the consumer price index, the same way the existing second homestead exemption has been since 2025.

If you want to know what your home is worth with the new numbers, or you are helping someone plan a move before the December 31 date, pick a time with me or call (386) 627-3612. I am happy to walk through your bill with you.