By Michelle Lee Thompson (citizen)
Sheriff Judd was at Circle B this morning talking to the media, and he said that now that Amendment 3 has passed, there is going to be a freeze on future hiring at the Sheriff’s Office, and they will not be adding staff for the next few years until they figure out the budget.
So, is that BS and hype, or is this real? I asked myself the same thing, because I do not want to hype anybody up over something that is not true.
Here is what I found.
The money part is real. Amendment 3 did pass, here in Polk and all over Florida, and local governments are going to lose real property tax money when it kicks in. Nobody is making that part up.
But let’s slow it down for a minute. Nobody got laid off today. No deputy was cut today. Amendment 3 does not even take effect until January 1, 2027, and the first tax bills under it will not come out until November 2027. And that $11 to $12 billion the sheriff mentioned is for the whole state, all cities and counties together, once it is fully in place. It is not Polk County’s number all by itself.
Now, about the other thing I keep hearing: that Amendment 3 said essential services were not going to be affected.
I went back and read it again, because that is what I thought I remembered too. What it actually says is that property tax money has to be used for a list of things, and public safety is on that list. That is not the same as guaranteeing public safety a certain amount of money.
It does not say law enforcement, fire, or EMS have to be funded first. It does not set a minimum they have to get. And it does not put any state money into replacing what local governments lose.
That is probably why so many of us are confused. The first version of the ballot wording actually said “ensuring funding for core services.” A judge said that was misleading back in August and made them take it out, because the amendment does not ensure funding for anything.
So no, I am not trying to scare anybody. I am doing what y’all asked me to do. The sheriff said it on video this morning, in his own words. Before the election, he was in ads warning us about less security and less protection if this passed. Well, it passed, so now I think it is fair to ask him the next question.
What is the plan? Not the statewide scary number, the Polk County plan. What has the Sheriff’s Office already looked at, line by line, to find savings first, before we are told what we are going to have to do without?
That is a fair question, and I am going to keep asking it as these budget decisions get made.