How It Works

Where your fire tax comes from today

Florida fire districts are funded primarily by ad valorem property taxes — a millage rate applied to your property's taxable value. Your taxable value is your assessed value minus exemptions, like the homestead exemption. The fire district's line appears on your annual TRIM notice and November tax bill.

Greater Naples Fire Rescue currently levies 2.0 mills, structured as 1.5 mills for operations plus 0.5 mills dedicated to capital improvements — stations, engines, and equipment — under an 8-year sunset clause. The operations budget is roughly 85% personnel costs, which is why district expenses tend to grow faster than inflation.

What Amendment 3 would change

On the November 3, 2026 ballot, Amendment 3 proposes raising the homestead exemption for non-school taxes from $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and lowering the annual assessment growth cap on non-homesteaded property from 10% to 5%. It requires 60% voter approval to pass.

Because fire districts are non-school taxing authorities, the expanded exemption directly reduces the taxable value their millage applies to. Statewide, the Revenue Estimating Conference put the recurring impact at roughly $12 billion. For an individual fire district, that can mean losing a meaningful share of its operating budget unless replacement funding is adopted.

The funding models we compare

1. Current system. Today's millage rate applied to today's taxable value. This is the baseline.
2. Homestead exemption increase, no replacement funding. Amendment 3 passes and nothing else changes. Most homesteaded owners pay less; the district collects less.
3. Hybrid model. The district reduces its millage rate and adopts a modest non-ad valorem fire assessment. Your bill has two smaller pieces instead of one, sized to keep total district revenue near current levels.
4. Fire assessment model. The fire property tax is replaced entirely by a non-ad valorem assessment — a charge based on the fire protection service a property receives rather than its value, apportioned among benefited properties.

Not theoretical — Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres already fund fire this way here in Lee County, and Florida courts have recognized the method since 1969 (subject to the special-benefit and apportionment tests). See the real Florida examples →

How we estimate service impact

Community impact figures (revenue reduction, budget percentage, and operational effects like staffing, response times, and apparatus replacement) are planning estimates published by the fire district. Actual decisions rest with the district's Board based on final legislation and the adopted budget.

Our assumptions

Every number in the calculator is driven by administrator-defined assumptions: the current millage rate, the exemption change, the hybrid model's reduced millage and assessment amount, and the assessment schedule. These are published openly so you can check our math. Estimates are educational only and are not official tax bills — always refer to your TRIM notice for exact figures.