A proposed property-tax change is putting Orange County’s budget and public services at the center of the race to replace term-limited Mayor Jerry Demings. Chris Messina and veteran public servant Tiffany Moore Russell disagree over Amendment 3, which could reduce local property-tax revenue, and their opposing views point to different approaches to managing the county.
Early voting began Monday across most of Central Florida. In an interview reported by WKMG, anchor Lisa Bell asked Messina and Moore Russell how Florida's Amendment 3 could affect the office they are seeking. The proposed constitutional amendment, placed on the November 3 ballot by the Florida Legislature during a June special session, needs approval from at least 60% of voters statewide, according to the Florida League of Cities. If it clears that bar, the changes take effect January 1, 2027, per Kaufman Rossin.
Messina supports Amendment 3 and is urging voters to approve it. He told Bell the measure would let taxpayers keep more of their money, citing projected homeowner savings of around $1,000 in the first year and roughly $2,000 in year two.
The Forecast—and Messina’s Challenge
Orange County estimates that Amendment 3 would cut revenue by $165 million in 2027 and $275 million in 2028, according to county figures cited in WKMG's report. Messina disputes the projections, saying they assume zero growth, and argues that future growth could offset some of the anticipated loss.
Moore Russell, the county's current front-runner after the August primary, does not support Amendment 3. The FY 2026-2027 budget funds the county's Housing Trust Fund at $19.5 million, as part of a goal to build or preserve 10,000 housing units by late 2028, according to The Apopka Voice.
What's Actually on the Chopping Block
In Bell's interview, Moore Russell outlined ways she said the county could absorb a revenue loss: consolidating departments and centralizing services, freezing hiring, adopting zero-based budgeting, and delaying capital projects. She cited her record as Orange County Clerk of Court, saying she cut her budget three times in one year and eliminated printing paper in her office, as evidence she knows how to trim spending without gutting services.
The stakes extend well beyond either candidate's resume. Orange County commissioners adopted a $9.01 billion budget for the current fiscal year while holding the countywide operating millage rate at 4.4347 mills, a figure unchanged since 2008 and one county officials call the 11th-lowest countywide operating rate in Florida, according to a county government announcement. Public safety alone consumes more than $1.1 billion, roughly 53% of the county's property tax revenue, funding the Sheriff's Office, Fire Rescue and Corrections, per WKMG's reporting on the budget vote. County leaders statewide have warned the amendment lacks any public safety carve-out, a concern that looms over whichever candidate takes office.
What the County Budget Shows
Orange County’s proposed FY 2026-27 budget anticipates countywide taxable value of $251.5 billion, a 7.4% increase, generating approximately $1.115 billion in property-tax proceeds, according to the county budget document. The document estimates that, once fully phased in, Amendment 3 would reduce annual property-tax revenue by approximately $275 million: $157 million in countywide taxes, $72 million in unincorporated Fire Rescue taxes and $46 million in unincorporated Sheriff taxes. Those figures put the proposed cut in context alongside the public-safety spending described above.
Statewide Stakes and a Narrow Primary Path
Amendment 3's reach goes far beyond Orange County. If approved, it would raise Florida's homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, while capping annual assessment increases on non-homestead properties at 5% instead of 10%, according to Kaufman Rossin. Statewide, the Florida Policy Institute projects the measure would cut local government property tax revenue by roughly $5 billion in its first year, climbing to as much as $12 billion annually within five years.
Messina and Moore Russell earned their runoff spots in a crowded August primary, where Moore Russell finished first with 32% of the vote and Messina placed second with 28%, edging out former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy at 26% and County Commissioner Mayra Uribe at 15%, according to FOX 35 Orlando. Murphy had spent nearly $1.9 million during the primary but fell roughly 2,500 votes short of advancing, a gap that still looms over the race's financial backdrop, which Hoodline examined in its earlier coverage of mayoral race spending.
Messina held a news conference last month at the site of a 342,000-gallon sewage spill near Aquatica to criticize the county's lack of immediate public notification, a moment Hoodline covered in its report on the Aquatica spill.
The mayoral contest is technically nonpartisan. With early voting underway and Amendment 3 on the same ballot as the mayoral runoff, Orange County voters are being asked to settle both questions at once, choosing a chief executive while deciding how much fiscal room that executive will actually have to work with.
