Your November 3 Ballot, Explained: What Broward and Palm Beach Voters Will Decide
Three statewide amendments, school tax renewals in both counties, a Broward health care sales tax and two Palm Beach bonds. Here is what every question on your November 3 ballot does, in plain English.
Jump to a section
- Key Dates
- Statewide: The Property Tax Amendment (Amendment 3)
- Statewide: Amendments 1 and 2
- Broward: School Board Question 1 (Teacher Pay, Safety and Mental Health)
- Broward: Charter Question on Plat Approval
- Broward: Quarter-Cent Sales Tax for Health Care
- Broward: How the County Auditor Is Chosen
- Palm Beach: School District Referendum (1 Mill Renewal)
- Palm Beach: $280 Million Parks Bond
- Palm Beach: $175 Million Library Bond
- Coconut Creek: Five City Charter Questions
- Other City Questions in Broward
- How to See Your Exact Ballot and Vote
- Sources
Beyond the candidate races, every voter in Broward and Palm Beach will see three statewide amendments, led by a major property tax overhaul. Broward voters also decide a school tax renewal, a new health care sales tax and two county charter changes. Palm Beach voters decide a school tax renewal and two bond questions, and several Broward cities have their own questions too. Here is what each one does, in plain English, so nothing on the ballot catches you off guard.
The Friendly Scoop does not endorse a yes or no on any question. Our goal is simply to help you walk in informed.
Key Dates
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Voter registration deadline | Passed (Monday, October 5) |
| Early voting (Broward) | Monday, October 19 through Sunday, November 1, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Vote-by-mail request deadline (both counties) | Thursday, October 22 at 5 p.m. |
| Election Day | Tuesday, November 3, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
Palm Beach County early voting sites and hours are posted at votepalmbeach.gov. Mail ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, so a postmark is not enough.
Statewide: The Property Tax Amendment (Amendment 3)
This is the biggest question on the ballot for homeowners. It would sharply raise the homestead exemption on non-school property taxes and slow how fast taxable values can climb on second homes, rentals and commercial property. Because it changes the Florida Constitution, it needs at least 60% of voters to pass. The Legislature placed it on the ballot on June 2, 2026. On your ballot it is titled "Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments."
What changes for homeowners (homestead)
| Today (2026) | If it passes | |
|---|---|---|
| Exemption from non-school taxes | Up to $51,411 | Up to $150,000 in 2027, up to $250,000 in 2028 |
| Exemption from school taxes | $25,000 | $25,000 (no change) |
| Inflation adjustment | Applies to part of the exemption | Applies to the full exemption starting 2029 |
A few details worth knowing:
- School taxes stay. The bigger exemption only applies to county, city and other non-school levies. Most homeowners will still get a bill with school taxes on it.
- Timing matters for newcomers. According to county property appraisers, people who are permanent Florida residents by December 31, 2026 would qualify for the larger exemption, even if they buy their home later. Some details still depend on follow-up legislation. Anyone who becomes a Florida resident on or after January 1, 2027 would start at a $50,000 exemption and qualify for the larger one only after four years of holding a Florida homestead exemption.
- Save Our Homes and portability stay the same. The 3% annual cap on homestead assessments, portability, and senior, veteran, widow and disability exemptions are not changed.
- It could go further later. The amendment lets the Legislature set up a process for counties and cities to raise the exemption up to a home's full assessed value, without another statewide vote.
What changes for everyone else (non-homestead)
For second homes, rental properties, commercial property and vacant land, the yearly cap on assessed value increases would drop from 10% to 5%. That limits how fast assessed value can rise. It does not cap tax rates, and it does not apply to school taxes.
What it means for local budgets
The amendment also limits what local governments can spend property tax revenue on. It does not guarantee any specific funding level for police, fire rescue or other services. Each county and city would decide through its own budget process whether to raise millage rates, cut spending or both.
When you would see it: If approved, the amendment takes effect January 1, 2027. The first change would show up on the August 2027 TRIM notices and the tax bills mailed in November 2027.
What a YES vote means: Larger homestead exemptions for non-school taxes, a 5% cap for non-homestead property, and new limits on how local governments use property tax revenue.
What a NO vote means: The current homestead exemption and the 10% non-homestead cap stay in place.
Statewide: Amendments 1 and 2
Two more constitutional amendments sit just above Amendment 3 on every Florida ballot. Both were placed there by the Legislature, and like Amendment 3, each needs at least 60% to pass.
Amendment 1: Budget Stabilization Fund. Florida keeps a rainy day fund for emergencies like hurricanes and recessions. This amendment would raise the cap on that fund from 10% to 25% of state general revenue. It would require the Legislature to deposit the lesser of $750 million or the amount needed to reach the cap each year, unless certain conditions are met, and lets lawmakers withdraw money for critical state needs.
- YES: The state's reserve fund can grow much larger, with required yearly deposits.
- NO: The cap stays at 10%.
Amendment 2: Tax Exemption for Farm Equipment. This would exempt tangible personal property, such as farm equipment and tools, from property taxes when it is regularly kept on land classified as agricultural, used for farming or agritourism, and owned by the landowner or leaseholder.
- YES: That farm and agritourism property is no longer taxed.
- NO: It stays taxable as it is today.
Both appear on every ballot in the state, so every voter in Broward and Palm Beach will see them.
Broward: School Board Question 1 (Teacher Pay, Safety and Mental Health)
Broward voters will decide whether to renew the one-mill school property tax voters approved in 2022 (a smaller version first passed in 2018). It is not a new tax or a higher rate. If renewed, it would run from January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2030, covering four school years starting with 2027/28. It needs a simple majority to pass.
The ballot wording:
What it pays for: The district says the renewal would raise about $358 million a year, with about $283 million going to district-run schools and $75 million to charter schools. The board has committed 90% or more to pay supplements for teachers and eligible staff, and up to 10% to school resource officers, safety staff and mental health services. The board also adopted a rule that the money cannot go to top administrator pay.
Today the referendum funds an average teacher supplement of $8,750 a year, plus 393 school safety positions and about 224 mental health positions.
What it costs you: One mill is $1 for every $1,000 of School Board taxable value, or $100 per $100,000. The district estimates the average Broward homeowner pays about $418 a year ($35 a month), and the average condo owner about $230 a year ($19 a month). Those figures are similar to what owners pay now.
Why it matters right now: Broward's school budget is tight. The board passed its 2026/27 budget without a guaranteed teacher raise, and the district is weighing more school closures as enrollment falls. District leaders say losing the referendum would mean deeper cuts.
Want to hear it firsthand? The district's last referendum town hall is Wednesday, October 14, 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek.
What a YES vote means: The current one-mill school tax continues for four more years.
What a NO vote means: The tax expires, and the district loses about $358 million a year that now funds pay supplements, safety staff and mental health services.
Broward: Charter Question on Plat Approval
This one sounds technical, but it touches how fast new development gets the green light. A plat is the official map that divides a piece of land into lots, streets and easements. Right now, Broward's charter requires the County Commission itself to approve every plat before it can be recorded.
The ballot wording:
Why it is on the ballot: A 2025 state law requires plats to be approved administratively, by staff, unless a county ordinance or charter says otherwise. This amendment would let the commission set up an alternative process by ordinance, such as staff approval, so plats are not held up waiting for a commission meeting.
What a YES vote means: The County Commission could create a faster approval process for plats, including staff-level approval.
What a NO vote means: The charter keeps requiring the full County Commission to approve every plat.
Broward: Quarter-Cent Sales Tax for Health Care
Broward voters will decide whether to add a 0.25% sales surtax, a quarter cent on every dollar of taxable purchases, for five years to fund a county health care plan. The County Commission voted unanimously to put it on the ballot.
What it would pay for: Under the certified ballot language, the money would fund preventive heart and cancer tests for qualified Broward residents, to the extent insurance does not cover them; primary and preventive care for indigent or medically poor residents; and other health services in a county health care plan. Reporting at the time it was placed on the ballot estimated it would raise about $120 million a year.
The fine print: The tax would end after five years, and it would automatically repeal if the county levies a 1% infrastructure surtax. By state law, an independent performance audit of the proposed surtax was completed in August 2026 and is posted on the county charter page.
What a YES vote means: Broward's sales tax goes up by a quarter cent for five years to fund the health care plan.
What a NO vote means: No new sales tax, and the plan is not funded this way.
Broward: How the County Auditor Is Chosen
This county charter amendment would change how Broward selects its County Auditor, the official who audits county government. Today, an independent board nominates one person for the job, and the County Commission ratifies that choice by majority vote.
The full ballot wording and the details of the new selection process are posted on the Broward County charter page. Read it on your sample ballot before you vote.
What a NO vote means: The current nomination and ratification process stays in place.
Palm Beach: School District Referendum (1 Mill Renewal)
Palm Beach County voters will decide whether to keep the one-mill school property tax that has been in place since 2019. Like Broward's, this is a renewal of an existing tax, not a new one, and it would run four more years.
The ballot wording:
What it pays for: School police and safety, mental health services, arts, music and PE teachers, career and choice program teachers, and teacher pay. The district says the referendum funds salary supplements that average about $8,000 a year per teacher. By state law, the money is shared with district-run schools and eligible charter schools, and an independent citizen committee oversees spending.
What it costs you: One mill is $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value, or $100 per $100,000. Since this renews the current rate, your bill would look about the same as it does today.
What the district says happens if it fails: Teachers would face an immediate average pay cut of about $8,000, jobs would be eliminated, and safety funding would shrink. The district also says Palm Beach would struggle to stay competitive with surrounding districts without this funding.
What a YES vote means: The current one-mill school tax continues from July 2027 through June 2031.
What a NO vote means: The tax ends when the current authorization expires.
Palm Beach: $280 Million Parks Bond
Palm Beach County voters will decide whether the county can borrow up to $280 million through general obligation bonds, repaid from property taxes over no more than 20 years, for park improvements across the county.
The ballot wording:
What it would pay for: Projects on the county's list include renovating the John F. Kennedy Bunker on Peanut Island, an interpretive center at Loxahatchee River Battlefield Park, and upgrades to Mounts Botanical Garden, along with new regional parks and sports complex improvements.
What it costs you: The estimated cost is about $5 per $100,000 of taxable value, or about $25 a year on a home with a $500,000 taxable value. The parks debt line would start on tax bills no earlier than fiscal year 2030. For context, county voters approved five earlier parks bonds between 1978 and 2006 that together totaled $190 million.
What a YES vote means: The county can issue up to $280 million in parks bonds, paid back through a new debt line on property tax bills.
What a NO vote means: No parks bond, and projects would need other funding.
Palm Beach: $175 Million Library Bond
This question only appears for voters who live in the Palm Beach County Library District, which covers unincorporated Palm Beach County and 24 of the county's 39 cities and towns. Member cities include Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter and Greenacres. Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and West Palm Beach are not in the district, so voters there will not see this question.
What it would pay for: Up to $175 million in bonds, repaid over no more than 20 years, to build, expand and equip library facilities. The centerpiece is a new 150,000-square-foot main library on Summit Boulevard, about three times the size of the current one, which opened in 1972. About a dozen other branches would be renovated.
What it costs you: Property owners in the Library District would see a new library debt line on their tax bills, estimated at about $6 per $100,000 of taxable value, starting no earlier than fiscal year 2030.
What a YES vote means: The county can issue up to $175 million in library bonds, repaid by Library District taxpayers.
What a NO vote means: No library bond. Library projects would continue to rely on the district's regular property tax revenue, which has paid for construction since 2015.
Coconut Creek: Five City Charter Questions
Coconut Creek voters get five extra questions, all recommended by the city's Charter Review Board. Most are housekeeping, but Question 4 changes what residents can put to a citywide vote.
| # | Question | In plain English |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clarifying "days" and who sets salaries | Spells out when "days" means calendar days versus business days, and confirms the Commission sets pay for the City Manager and City Attorney. |
| 2 | Mayor and commissioners off HOA and condo boards | Bars the mayor and commissioners from serving as an officer on a homeowner or condo association board in the city while they hold office. |
| 3 | Unspent budget money | Ends the rule that unspent appropriations automatically lapse after five years. The Commission would decide each budget cycle which ones to drop. |
| 4 | Initiative, referendum and recall changes | Takes the Land Development Code, Comprehensive Plan and related ordinances out of the citizen referendum process, and sets procedures for validating petitions and handling conflicting charter amendments. |
| 5 | Charter review schedule | Moves charter reviews from every five years to every six years starting January 2030, to line up with election years. |
Why Question 4 deserves a close read: A YES vote would remove the city's Land Development Code, Comprehensive Plan and related ordinances from the citizen initiative and referendum process in the city charter. If you care about having a direct say on development in your neighborhood, this is the question to read twice.
The full wording of each question is posted on the City of Coconut Creek election page.
Other City Questions in Broward
Coconut Creek is not the only Broward city with questions on this ballot. These cities have their own charter or referendum questions too:
| City | Questions | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Fort Lauderdale | 10 charter questions | Requiring a unanimous commission vote to sell or lease park-zoned land for more than a year, changes involving the police chief and fire chief positions, and doubling the residency requirement for candidates from six months to 12. |
| Deerfield Beach | 9 charter questions | A charter cleanup, an updated description of city boundaries, and a Charter Review Board every ten years starting in 2035, among others. |
| Hollywood | 2 questions | Changes to the charter rules on selling, leasing or buying city-owned property, and whether the city can sell or transfer beachfront land north of the Dania Beach Pier to Broward County to be conserved in its natural state. |
This list may not be complete. Other cities can add questions, so check your sample ballot. In Palm Beach County, city elections are generally held in March, and we did not find any city questions on this November ballot.
How to See Your Exact Ballot and Vote
Your ballot depends on where you live, and other cities may have their own questions too. The fastest way to see every race and question you will face is to pull up your sample ballot.
- Broward: Look up your sample ballot, early voting sites and precinct at browardvotes.gov.
- Palm Beach: Look up your sample ballot, early voting sites and precinct at votepalmbeach.gov.
- Voting by mail? Request your ballot by Thursday, October 22 at 5 p.m. Under Florida law, mail ballot requests expire after every general election, so a request from 2024 or earlier no longer counts. If you have not requested a ballot since January 2025, request one now.
- Returning a mail ballot: It must be received by your Supervisor of Elections by 7 p.m. on November 3. In Palm Beach, ballots returned on Election Day to a branch office or secure ballot intake station are due by 5 p.m.
- Bring a photo ID with your signature if you vote in person, such as a Florida driver license, Florida ID card or passport.
Tip: Read the questions at home before you go. Ballot questions are long, and the line moves faster when you already know how you plan to vote.
Sources
- Volusia County Property Appraiser: Amendment 3 FAQ (neutral explainer of the statewide amendment)
- Florida Policy Institute: Amendment 3 ballot language summary
- Fox 35: Florida property tax amendment heads to November ballot
- Leon County Supervisor of Elections: 2026 General Election ballot questions (statewide amendment titles and summaries)
- Broward County Public Schools: Referendum 2026
- WLRN: No raise for teachers in Broward school board's new budget
- Broward County Resolution 2026-091 (plat approval)
- Broward County Resolution 2026-114 (health care surtax)
- Broward County Charter: proposals on the November 3, 2026 ballot
- Caribbean National Weekly: Broward residents to vote on $120M health care plan
- School District of Palm Beach County: 2026 School Referendum
- League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County: County questions 2026
- Stet News: What $280 million could do for Palm Beach County parks
- Palm Beach Post via AOL: County OKs $280M parks bond referendum
- Stet News: Library improvements are on the November ballot
- City of Coconut Creek: November 3, 2026 Referendum Election
- WLRN: The Fort Lauderdale charter amendments on the ballot
- City of Deerfield Beach: Proposed Charter Amendments
- City of Hollywood: 2026 Referendum Questions
- League of Women Voters of Palm Beach County: 2026 Election Dates
- Florida Division of Elections: Vote-by-Mail
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the property tax amendment get rid of school taxes?
No. The larger exemption applies only to non-school taxes. Homeowners keep the same $25,000 exemption from school taxes they have today.
Are the school referendums new taxes?
No. Both the Broward and Palm Beach questions renew one-mill taxes that are already on your bill.
How many votes does each question need to pass?
All three statewide amendments need at least 60%. The county, school district and city questions need a simple majority.
I moved to Florida recently. Does the property tax amendment help me?
If you are a permanent Florida resident by December 31, 2026, you would qualify for the larger exemption once you own a home and apply for homestead. If you become a resident on or after January 1, 2027, you would start at $50,000 and qualify for the larger exemption after four years.
When is the last day to request a mail ballot?
Thursday, October 22 at 5 p.m., in both Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Where can I see my own ballot?
Broward voters can use browardvotes.gov (https://www.browardvotes.gov), and Palm Beach voters can use votepalmbeach.gov (https://www.votepalmbeach.gov).