A Boca Grande buyer does not inherit the seller's property tax bill. Under Florida's constitution, a change of ownership resets a non-homestead home's assessed value to its full just value at the next assessment date. Any slower growth the seller built up under the assessment cap ends at the closing table. Amendment 3 is on the November 3, 2026 ballot, and it keeps that reset in place. On Gasparilla Island, that matters more than the headline.
Statewide, the headline is a much larger homestead exemption. On Boca Grande, it is mostly a story about a cap, which limits how fast an assessment can rise while still letting it rise.
Who the bigger exemption actually reaches here
The official ballot language titles the measure "Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments." That wording came from the Attorney General's office after a Leon County circuit judge found the original title and summary defective and ordered a rewrite, as Florida Politics reported in August. The amendment needs 60% voter approval to pass. If it passes, it takes effect January 1, 2027.
For non-school levies, the homestead exemption would grow from today's $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. After that it would be adjusted for inflation. As the Boca Beacon explained in September, the exemption comes off the value used to calculate taxes, not off the bill itself. Someone who becomes a permanent Florida resident after December 31, 2026 would start at the current $50,000 and qualify for the full amount after five years.
Second homes, rental properties and commercial properties get none of the larger exemption. According to the Lee County Property Appraiser's 2026 preliminary tax roll, the Boca Grande Fire Control District has 484 homesteaded properties and 1,198 non-homesteaded properties. So most island parcels are covered by the second half of the amendment's title.
| Today | If Amendment 3 passes | |
|---|---|---|
| Homestead exemption, non-school levies | $50,000 | $150,000 in 2027, $250,000 in 2028, then inflation-adjusted |
| Non-homestead annual assessment cap, non-school levies | 10% | 5%, starting January 1, 2027 |
| School-district levies | Not covered by the non-homestead cap | Still not covered |
| Reset to just value on change of ownership | Yes | Kept |
School taxes are outside both changes. Florida TaxWatch puts them at roughly 40% of the average property tax bill. For a second-home owner, then, the cap would apply to the remaining portion of the bill and leave the school portion alone.
The island already shows what a cap does in a soft year
In June, the Boca Beacon reported preliminary 2026 values for the part of the Boca Grande Fire Control District that sits in Charlotte County. Total just value fell 6.11% to $1,146,371,279. Taxable value rose 3.94% to $952,926,707. Those figures come from the same report, based on numbers from Charlotte County Property Appraiser Paul Polk.
That is market value falling while the taxed base grew, in the same year and on the same stretch of island. The Beacon did not break down the cause. The pattern matches how assessment caps work, though. An assessment held below market value by a cap can keep rising each year toward market value, up to the cap's limit, even when market value dips. The cap sets the speed limit, and the gap between assessed and just value is the room left to climb. Taxable value only stops rising when that gap closes.
The north end really is under a separate appraiser. Charlotte County's own parcel record lists a Boca Grande Club common area at 5000 Gasparilla Road as a Charlotte County parcel. The Lee County side moved differently. In Lee Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell's June 1 estimate, the Lee portion of the district was valued at $4,098,135,000, up 6.54% from $3,845,506,299 in 2025. Caldwell tied that gain to recovery: "Properties are still coming back on the tax roll," he told the Beacon. He also described the broader 2025 market as "stable at best."
Cutting the cap from 10% to 5% would slow that climb toward market value. On a long-held property with a wide gap, it would also stretch out the climb over more years.
The step-up at sale gets larger as the cap gets smaller
This is where the cap meets a transaction. Here is the sequence on a non-homestead property:
- Each year the assessed value can rise by no more than the cap, while market value moves however the market moves.
- Over a long hold in a rising market, the gap between assessed and just value widens.
- At a change of ownership or control, the assessed value resets to just value at the next assessment date.
- Improvements to a residential property are assessed under general law, and the cap then applies again from that new figure.
A 5% cap holds a seller's assessment further below market than a 10% cap would in any year when values rise faster than 5%. The buyer's reset starts from scratch either way. So a lower cap makes the seller's carrying costs and the buyer's first full bill drift further apart. For a legacy island owner, the cap's benefit stays with the owner who holds. For a buyer, the assessed value starts over at market value.
That is why a seller's current tax bill tells a Boca Grande buyer very little about their own. The figure that matters is an estimate built from the purchase price and the island's current millage rates. Writing a contract with that gap in mind is a matter of arithmetic, not guesswork.
Where the lost county revenue could land
The cap is only half the second-home picture. The other half depends on how local governments respond to the revenue the exemption removes.
The state's Revenue Estimating Conference adopted its estimate on July 10, 2026. For fiscal year 2027–28, it projected Lee County's impact at $178.0 million in cash and $453.3 million recurring. For Charlotte County, the projection was $46.1 million in cash and $126.7 million recurring. At a September 1 Lee County Commission workshop covered by the Boca Beacon, Lee County Property Appraiser projections put the county budget at a $121 million deficit in fiscal year 2027–28 if the amendment passes. Officials discussed options including additional Municipal Service Taxing Units, higher fees, tax increases and service reductions. "The state is basically putting the burden back on us locally to raise taxes … if it passes," Commission Chairman Cecil Pendergrass said.
Caldwell's framing in the same Boca Beacon article is blunt: "Exemptions are not tax cuts, they're tax shifts." Because the island has so many high-value non-homestead parcels, he said the amendment would have a fairly limited effect on the Fire Control District's own tax base: "In Boca Grande the property values are so high, that there will still be a lot of taxable value left." He placed the exposure at the county level. Boca Grande is a high-value part of the countywide roll, so if the county loses 30 to 40 percent of its homestead value, he said, that burden shifts to Boca Grande taxpayers.
The 5% cap only partly offsets this. Florida TaxWatch writes that the lower non-homestead cap may slightly reduce the tax shifting that comes with a larger homestead exemption, without eliminating it. It also notes that the cap does nothing to stop millage rates from going up. A cap limits growth in assessed value. A tax bill is assessed value times millage, and millage is set each year by the taxing authorities.
This post explains how a proposed rule would work. It is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Owners and buyers should confirm how any outcome applies to their own property with a qualified tax professional or the appropriate county property appraiser.
Frequently asked questions
Does Amendment 3 change school taxes on a Boca Grande second home? No. Both the larger exemption and the 5% cap apply to non-school levies only, and school-district levies are not capped for non-homestead property.
If I buy a home whose owner has held it for decades, do I keep their assessment? No. A change of ownership or control resets the assessed value to just value at the next assessment date, and the amendment keeps that rule.
Does it matter whether a property is on the Lee or Charlotte side of the island? Each county appraises its own parcels, and their 2026 preliminary figures for the Fire Control District moved in different directions. Each county also faces its own revenue estimate under the amendment.
If you are weighing a purchase or a sale on Gasparilla Island this season, the Steffan•Sieglaff Team can walk you through how a property's current assessment compares with its market value, and what that difference could mean at closing on either side of the county line.
