Hanging over the discussion of the Union County budget was the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot to increase homestead property tax exemptions, which Commissioner Donna Jackson said would cost Union County an estimated $1.6 million in revenue.
Back from the Florida Association of Counties conference, she said she did not meet a single commissioner in the state who supports the measure, but she believes it will pass, noting that even Union County voters cannot decide the statewide question. She warned the amendment bars counties from cutting law enforcement and emergency services below current levels, meaning reductions would fall on everything else, and pointed to talk of county consolidation and higher special assessments that would hit renters and lower-value homesteads hardest.
“If this passes and if we lose $1.6 million of our revenue, we’re going to have to make drastic cuts to services,” Jackson said.
