Amendment 3 Naples Property Taxes: What Changes in 2027

This is my plain read of the Amendment 3 Naples property taxes rules for 2027, taken from the adopted text, because it's what my clients have asked me about most since election night. Florida voters approved it with 62% of the vote, above the 60% it needed, and Collier County voted 70% yes, according to WGCU. The measure is CS/HJR 1-F, passed by the Legislature in a June 2026 special session. I read the enrolled text on the Florida Senate site and the House staff analysis so you don't have to.

What Amendment 3 changes, in plain terms

The amendment does four main things, all taking effect January 1, 2027:

• Raises the homestead exemption for county, city and special district taxes (not school taxes).
• Lowers the cap on yearly assessment increases for property without a homestead exemption, from 10% to 5%.
• Sets a five-year rule for people who become Florida residents after December 31, 2026.
• Limits what counties and cities can spend property tax money on to a list of core uses: law enforcement, fire and emergency medical service, education, infrastructure like roads and stormwater, natural resource and flood control projects, bonds and debt for those uses, employee retirement obligations, and the operations of county officers and city governments.

Amendment 3 Naples property taxes: before and after

The current amounts come from the Collier County Property Appraiser and the House staff analysis, which puts the inflation-adjusted second exemption at $25,722 for 2025. The new amounts come from the enrolled joint resolution.

Naples homestead owners: the 2027 and 2028 steps

If Naples is your permanent residence and you have a homestead exemption, the text raises the amount of that exemption. For county, city and special district taxes, the first $150,000 of assessed value is exempt in 2027 and the first $250,000 in 2028. Starting in 2029, the $250,000 amount is adjusted each year for inflation when the Consumer Price Index goes up.

Here is a hypothetical with a round number, not a real property: a homestead with an assessed value of $1,000,000. In 2028, its taxable value for non-school taxes would be $750,000, before any other exemptions you may have. For school taxes, only the $25,000 exemption still applies.

Your tax bill also depends on millage rates, which each local government sets every year. The amendment doesn't set those rates, so I can't tell you what your bill will be.

Second homes and rentals: the cap drops from 10% to 5%

This is the part many of my Naples clients care about most. Since 2009, non-homestead property in Collier has had a 10% cap on yearly assessment increases, and that cap doesn't apply to the school board portion of the bill, per the Collier County Property Appraiser.

Under Amendment 3, beginning January 1, 2027, that cap becomes 5% for non-school taxes. The House staff analysis says it covers both non-homestead residential property (second homes, rentals) and nonresidential property.

Two details from the text worth knowing:

• A sale resets the value. For residential property with nine units or fewer, a change of ownership or control means the property is assessed at full just value as of the next assessment date. The text includes a change of ownership of a legal entity that owns the property.
• Improvements can reset it too. For nonresidential property, the Legislature must provide a reset to just value after a "qualifying improvement," as defined by general law.

The cap limits how fast your assessed value can climb. It doesn't lower it.

Buyers moving to Naples: the five-year rule

The five-year wait is in the final text. Someone who gets a homestead on or after January 1, 2027, and who had not maintained a permanent residence in Florida as of December 31, 2026, gets a $25,000 exemption for school taxes and $50,000 for non-school taxes. Beginning with the fifth year of that exemption, they get the full amount other homestead owners have.

One correction to early coverage: a Florida Realtors article from August described the cutoff as December 31, 2025. The enrolled text and the House staff analysis both say December 31, 2026.

This matters if you own a second home here now and are thinking about making Naples your permanent home. Whether you count as a Florida resident is a fact-based decision by the Property Appraiser. If the timing affects you, talk to the Collier County Property Appraiser and your tax advisor soon.

The text also says that starting in 2030, a county or city, by a two-thirds vote of its governing body, may shorten the five-year requirement for a critical local need. Whether Collier or Naples does that is up to them.

What does not change

• School taxes. The homestead exemption for school district taxes stays at $25,000, and the new 5% cap doesn't apply to school taxes.
• Save Our Homes. The joint resolution still limits yearly increases on homestead assessments to 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower.
• Portability. The text keeps the rule that lets you carry up to $500,000 of the gap between just value and assessed value to a new Florida homestead, if you had a homestead exemption in any of the three years before.
• The January 1 rule and the filing deadline. You still need title and permanent residence on January 1, and Collier asks for new applications before March 1.

What the Legislature still has to decide

The text leaves several pieces to general law:

• Procedures for the five-year rule. The Legislature must set uniform procedures to administer it.
• Local increases. It must create a procedure for counties and cities to raise the exemption for their own taxes, up to the full assessed value. Special districts can do the same by referendum.
• Definitions. Terms like "change of ownership or control" and "qualifying improvement" come from general law.

For how Collier applies these on the 2027 roll, check with the Collier County Property Appraiser. The state's Revenue Estimating Conference projected local non-school property tax revenue drops of $4.95 billion statewide in fiscal year 2027-28 and $8.78 billion in 2028-29, so expect local budget news.

Buying or selling in Collier before January 1, 2027

• Sellers with a homestead. When a homestead sells, the assessed value becomes full market value for the new owner, per the Collier County Property Appraiser. Your buyer won't inherit your capped value.
• Buyers. Ask me for the parcel record, then budget taxes on the new owner's basis, not the seller's current bill.
• Second-home buyers. After a purchase resets the value to just value, the 5% cap limits increases from there, starting with 2027.

Questions owners ask me