Lewis presents series of slides to show proportional decreases to specific budgets, including those for Sheriff’s Office and Transportation Department
During the Sarasota County Commission’s Aug. 21 budget workshop, County Administrator Jonathan Lewis reported that staff projections had shown that the county would lose nearly $46.9 million in the 2028 fiscal year, along with about $87 million in the 2029 fiscal year, if the state property tax referendum wins voter approval on the Nov. 3 General Election ballot.
Since last year, the board members have expressed concern about how they would be able to handle future county budgets if the increased homestead exemptions take effect. Last week, during their final budget workshop on the county’s budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which will begin on Oct. 1, Lewis provided numerous slides that staff had created to underscore the diminished financial resources that would be expected to result from Amendment 3’s passage.
“We can prepare [for the referendum’s approval],” Lewis said, “which we’re doing,” as he expects other local government administrators and staffs are doing. Nonetheless, he added, “We should let the voters express what they think, [though] it doesn’t always work out quite the way we think it’s gonna.”
He explained, “Some people think it’s [$150,000] added to what they already have, referring to the first year of the increased homestead exemption. “No, it would be, for many people, [$100,000] over what they currently have,” and with no change in regard to their Sarasota County School District taxes.
Lewis pointed to examples of various county services funded through millage rates. One example, he said, is the county’s Emergency Medical Services Fund. He stressed that he was referring to the women and men who provide emergency medical attention. “That’s significant to note.”
Just for the EMS operations, Lewis emphasized, the loss would be about $11.4 million.
Next, he said, Amendment 3 would affect the funding raised through the millage rates for the Environmentally Sensitive Lands Protection Program (ESLPP) and The Legacy Trail. “Obviously,” he told the commissioners, “your legal requirement there is to fund the debt [on bonds that have been issued to advance money for actions related to each],” so the ESLPP millage rate of 0.25 mills “would have to go up a little bit to cover the debt, as would The Legacy Trail debt.”
One mill represents $1,000 of the value of a parcel.
Thus, every property owner without a homestead exemption “would have to pay a little bit more,” Lewis said.
“It’s the same thing,” he noted, for the county’s Mosquito Control millage rate.
During the 2028 fiscal year, based on the numbers that the staff had run, he continued, the county would lose $46,851,464, or about 11% of the property tax revenue the county receives at its current millage rate, if Amendment 3 passes. A slide he showed the board members indicated that the overall county millage rate would have to rise to 0.3507 to make up for the loss of revenue. The proposed rate for FY 2027 is 3.3833.
For the 2029 fiscal year, with the homestead exemption rising to $250,000, “That number gets awful close to $90 million,” Lewis noted of the loss of revenue.
The slide he presented put the estimate at $87,088,073, necessitating a millage rate of 0.6214 to make up for that.
The impact to the General Fund, “which is kind of the discretionary fund … for the county,” he reminded the board members, would suffer a loss close to $70 million in the 2029 fiscal year.
He did stress, “These are estimated numbers, based on what we know now …”
Then he showed the commissioners a slide regarding the proposed 2027 fiscal year budget, which included examples of General Fund revenue going to specific operations. The Sheriff’s Office’s budget, put at $224,471,941, will take 52% of the General Fund revenue, the slide said, while the departments over which the commission has control will need 36% of the General Fund money. Altogether, the slide showed, the proposed FY 2027 budget is expected to provide $434,134,105 for county operations, including those of the other constitutional officers — such as the supervisor of elections — that generate little to no revenue on their own.
Turning to another slide, Lewis continued, “If you took the same proportional share model,” the Sheriff’s Office budget would drop by $18,953,666, with the extra $150,000 homestead reduction in effect, while the county’s departments would lose $13,094,274. Altogether, the General Fund budget would drop to $46,851,464, the slide said. With the $250,000 homestead exemption taking effect, the Sheriff’s Office budget would drop by $35,231,306, with county departments losing $24,339,796.
“I’m not saying, ‘Cut $35 million out of the Sheriff’s Office [budget],” Lewis pointed out. He reminded the commissioners that staff had used the traditional General Fund model they see during budget workshops to demonstrate the proportional changes.
Then Lewis turned to the county departments with the largest support from the General Fund. Transit was at the top of the list, though, he noted, “Transit has other funds that they deal with,” including federal grants that the county has to match.
General Services has the fourth largest portion of the budget coming from the General Fund, he continued, with Transportation fifth on the list.
Given all of the discussions among the commissioners this year about the county’s roadway needs, Lewis said, he doubted they would want to cut the Transportation Department budget. (See the related article in this issue.)
Eliminating the other departments’ General Fund revenue, he pointed out, would just about add up to the amount of money the county would be expected to lose in property tax revenue in the 2029 fiscal year.
Yet, for another example, he continued, “You can’t cut all of [the] General Services [budget from the General Fund].” That is the department, he reminded them, whose staff members “maintain our jail. They maintain Animal Services,” and the facilities of the constitutional officers. “So that’s not a good one [to cut].”
He stressed that the General Services personnel who go to the jail “to make sure the plumbing’s working — that’s still going to have to happen, regardless of where that [money] comes from.”
Lewis expressed his gratitude to the Sarasota County Property Appraiser’s Office staff for its assistance in determining the numbers. He added that he deals mostly with Chief Deputy Property Appraiser Brian Loughrey, noting that he believes Loughry is the primary contact for other county staff members who have worked on the budget details. “He’s very helpful in getting us information.”
‘A lot of confusion and misunderstanding’
When residents ask him about the effects of Amendment 3, Lewis continued, “I do feel that there’s a little bit of a disconnect on what it means for them — again, good or bad.”
Then he explained that staff uses $350,000 as the average home value in Sarasota County.
He showed them slides based on the 2026 fiscal year tax bill for the owner of such a home, noting that the Truth in Millage (TRIM) notices for FY 2027 recently went out in the mail.
If Amendment 3 passes, he said, with the homestead exemption rising to $150,000, and no change in the regular School Board tax — as provided for by the Legislature in approving the Amendment 3 details — the tax bill would fall from $3,594.49, as shown for FY 2026, to $3,056.62.
That owner would pay about $500 less, Lewis emphasized, not $3,600 less.
Lewis did stress, though, “Everybody’s household is different.”
He has talked with people on the phone, he noted, “and walked them through” their tax bill to explain how Amendment 3 would work. “There is a little bit of an ‘Ah, ha’ moment …”
“It’s not my job to tell people how to vote,” he said, offering a variation on his earlier remark. “It’s my job to make sure they have the information when they’re going to vote, so that they can make the best decision for them and, hopefully our state, as we go forward.”
He presented another slide that reflected the $250,000 homestead exemption, again using a sample 2026 fiscal year tax bill for the owner of a $350,000 home. “They’re still paying the full freight of what they would have paid on the School Board side,” he said, “and they’re saving … give or take, about $1,000 …”
“That’s really what [Amendment 3] means monetarily,” Lewis pointed out.
The next slide he showed the board members provided what he characterized as the “sample list” of county services that would be affected by the passage of Amendment 3.
Some residents, he said, do not believe they use any services supported by property tax revenue. He acknowledged that, “as a general rule,” county staff does not do “a good job” of explaining how the revenue is allocated.
Among the services on the slide were libraries, which, Lewis told the commissioners, he believes “are the best you’re going to find.”
The list also included parks and the Siesta Key trolley, which is free. Another item was “Lifeguards.” Lewis noted, “People don’t think about that.” Yet, he said, they “cost us about $3 million a year.”
The jail “is property tax funded,” he continued.
For another example, Lewis noted that even though the state pays for certain roadways in the area, “The county has chosen historically to provide additional levels of service” beyond what the state covers.
Veterans services, too, rely on property tax revenue, he added.
“People just don’t necessarily think about these kind of things.”
In some counties, Lewis said, government leaders are putting up signs on buildings that say, for example, “Provided by property tax.”
He has been asked why he has not done that, Lewis added, noting that his reply is that he would not take such action without having received the direction from the County Commission.
If Amendment 3 passes, Lewis pointed out, he and the other county staff “will build … the best budget we possibly can,” based on direction the from the commissioners, given the available revenue.
He added that he hoped the information he had provided that day would be helpful to them as they talk with their constituents about the proposed amendment.
Chair Ron Cutsinger thanked Lewis, noting, “We’re all getting a lot of questions about [Amendment 3], and there’s a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about it.”