- October 5, 2026
More than 100 people gathered at the Palm Coast Community Center on Sept. 30 for a Flagler Tiger Bay Club town hall focused on Amendment 3, a proposed property tax measure that will go before Florida voters in November.
The free event brought together Flagler County’s five constitutional officers, Palm Coast City Council member Theresa Pontieri and former Florida Sen. Jeff Brandes for a discussion about the proposed amendment and its potential effects on homeowners and local governments.
Flagler Tiger Bay Club President Jay Scherr emphasized at the beginning of the event that the organization was not taking a position on the amendment.
“Our goal tonight really is simple,” Scherr said. “It's to provide factual and balanced information, have a civil discussion, address both the potential benefits and potential consequences of Amendment 3, give you an opportunity to ask questions and make your own informed decision.”
The panel included Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly, Property Appraiser Jay Gardner, Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller Tom Bexley, Supervisor of Elections Kaiti Lenhart and Tax Collector Shelly Edmonson. Pontieri and Brandes joined the constitutional officers on the panel.
Pontieri argues amendment would force governments to prioritize
Pontieri opened the substantive discussion by explaining why she supports Amendment 3. She said she views the issue from several perspectives — as a taxpayer, a local elected official responsible for approving budgets and as the wife of a firefighter.
Pontieri said the current property tax system is flawed and believes reducing property tax revenue would force local governments to take a closer look at how they spend taxpayer money.
“What Amendment 3 does is it forces your local officials to properly prioritize,” Pontieri said. “It forces public officials to think about what the core government functions are supposed to be. Public safety, infrastructure. Those are what government was created for.”
Pontieri acknowledged that she does not consider the amendment perfect, but said she believes it could force municipalities and counties to more closely scrutinize how taxpayer money is spent.
She also said homeowners could use their property tax savings to pay down debt, spend in the private economy or support organizations and causes of their choosing rather than having government make those spending decisions.
Staly: Property tax needs reform, but questions remain
Staly said the Flagler County Sheriff's Office's new budget is $66 million and the agency has 377 full-time employees and about 90 volunteers. He described the Sheriff's Office as the county's only full-service law enforcement agency and said it provides specialized services that smaller municipal police departments do not maintain themselves.
Staly said he understands concerns about rising property taxes and believes the system needs reform.
“I think every sheriff in Florida will agree property tax needs to be reformed,” Staly said.
But he questioned whether Amendment 3 is the appropriate way to accomplish that reform.
“What we're not sure about is if this is the right way to do it,” Staly said.
Staly also pointed to Flagler County's continued population growth and said the Sheriff's Office recorded 7,000 additional calls for service from January through the end of August, increasing the workload even as reported crime has declined.
Gardner explains what the amendment would change
Gardner, who has served as property appraiser for more than 20 years, said his office has 27 employees and a budget of just under $4 million. His office handles approximately 97,000 property assessments annually, he said.
Gardner said his office also administers homestead and other property tax exemptions and explained that the amendment would eventually increase the homestead exemption to $250,000. He also said the existing 10% assessment cap on non-homestead property would decrease to 5%.
“That does not lower taxes, it slows the increase,” Gardner said of the non-homestead provision.
Gardner said one of his concerns is that the proposal addresses exemptions and assessment caps but does not directly restrict government spending.
“This bill doesn't have the word spending in [it],” Gardner said. “It doesn't affect government's ability to spend money.”
Bexley warns of reduced budget flexibility
Bexley said Flagler County receives about $136 million in ad valorem, or property tax, revenue, with nearly $65 million supporting the county's constitutional officers. His office receives approximately $4.46 million, he said.
Bexley said Amendment 3 contains protections for core public safety services and that constitutional offices have some protection because of the functions they are required to perform. But he said reducing the overall property tax base could still limit the county's long-term budget flexibility.
“We depend on stable revenue to maintain financial controls, the auditing, the technology, and the day-to-day operations that keep county government accountable,” Bexley said.
He said governments could respond by considering higher millage rates or other revenue sources, or by reducing spending outside core services. He listed parks, recreation, arts, libraries, animal control, veterans and senior services and road maintenance among programs that could potentially face scrutiny.
Bexley said he supports property tax reform but favors a process that allows proposals to be studied, debated and adjusted.
Lenhart points to election costs and county growth
Lenhart said the Supervisor of Elections Office has 11 full-time employees and more than 250 temporary poll workers during early voting and Election Day. Its approximately $2.6 million budget represents about 1% of the county's total budget, she said.
Lenhart did not tell residents how they should vote on Amendment 3. Instead, she focused her opening statement on the services her office provides and the financial demands it faces.
She said Flagler County recently surpassed 100,000 registered voters and that continued population growth will require additional precincts and another early voting location for the 2028 presidential election.
Lenhart also pointed to costs created by changes in state election laws, federal litigation and rising operating expenses such as postage.
Edmonson says property tax collections help sustain her office
Edmonson said the Tax Collector's Office has 45 employees and three locations. Its approximately $6.8 million budget supports services including driver's licenses, vehicle tags, titles and registrations in addition to collecting and distributing property taxes.
Unlike the other constitutional offices on the panel, Edmonson said her office is fee-based and generates revenue through the services it provides. She said the office typically returns about $1 million annually to the taxing authorities that funded its operations.
Edmonson said revenue generated through property tax collection helps sustain the overall operation even though services such as driver's licenses, tags and titles account for much of the office's staff time.
Brandes raises concerns about unintended consequences
Brandes, who served two years in the Florida House and 10 years in the Florida Senate, used his opening remarks to raise concerns about how the proposed amendment was developed and its possible long-term consequences.
Brandes said he believes the existing property tax system has problems but argued Amendment 3 could replace it with a system containing additional problems. He criticized the legislative process that produced the proposal, saying it arrived late in the legislative session without sufficient modeling of its potential effects.
Among his concerns was the effect on renters, who would not receive the homestead exemption, and the possibility that the increasing exemption could change local governments' incentives surrounding entry-level housing development.
Brandes also warned that cities and counties could respond to reduced property tax revenue by shifting some services to non-ad valorem assessments, which are not subject to homestead exemptions.
He urged residents to ask their local governments for specifics about how they would respond if Amendment 3 passes.
“Be brutally honest,” Brandes said of what he wants governments to tell residents. “Tell you specifically what is going to be cut.”
After the opening statements, the town hall moved into a question-and-answer session with the panel and members of the audience.
