At first glance, Amendment 3 may sound like a simple property tax cut. But there’s a lot more at stake. Here’s how it could impact the future of the Everglades.
Amendment 3 would reduce the property tax revenue available to local governments and special districts, including water management districts. The South Florida Water Management District relies on these dollars to help fund critical work across the Everglades ecosystem including:
- Cleaning up polluted water through Stormwater Treatment Areas that filter pollution before it reaches the Everglades
- Managing invasive species, including efforts to control Burmese pythons and other threats to native wildlife
- Buying, protecting and managing more than 1 million acres of public conservation land — places that serve as home and habitat to wildlife and offer Floridians countless recreational opportunities
- Funding restoration. Many of these projects are cost-shared with the federal government, so reduced funding on Florida’s side can mean delays and higher costs for the entire restoration effort.
For the Everglades, less funding means less capacity to protect our water, wildlife and wetlands and slower progress on restoration efforts that Floridians have spent decades investing in.
That’s why we’re joining an unusually broad coalition of voices — including Audubon Florida, 1000 Friends of Florida, Sea Turtle Conservancy, sheriffs, hospitals, libraries and even the fiscal watchdog Florida TaxWatch in raising concerns.
