We asked Tampa Bay officials if they'd cut their pay if Amendment 3 passes
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
If Florida voters approve a constitutional amendment to cut property taxes Nov. 3, Tampa Bay's elected officials will decide what to cut and what to keep with limited funds — including their own salaries.
Why it matters: Axios asked county commissioners and city council members in Tampa and St. Petersburg and Hillsborough and Pinellas counties how they were voting on Amendment 3 and whether they'd be willing to take a pay cut if it passed.
- More than half either didn't respond or declined to say how they'd vote.
- Of those who answered, just two elected officials — both of them Republican — said they were voting yes. Both also said they'd be willing to cut their salaries if the measure passes.
How it works: The amendment would increase the homestead exemption — a tax break for Floridians living in their primary residences — from $50,000 to $150,000 by 2027, then to $250,000 by 2028.
The big picture: Opponents say the amendment would leave some local governments starved for revenue as they scramble to maintain services and offset billions of dollars in losses.
- Supporters, aided by the DeSantis administration's take on DOGE, say local governments are overspending.
What they're saying: "The entire government needs to take a salary cut, including the commissioners," said Hillsborough Commissioner Joshua Wostal, one of the yes votes.
- Pinellas Commissioner Chris Latvala also said he was voting yes and would cut his salary but declined to elaborate on his position.
- Hillsborough commissioners make $127,320 a year. Pinellas commissioners make about $126,500.
Friction point: Luiz F. F. Garcia, a Republican challenging Democratic incumbent Hillsborough Commissioner Gwen Myers, told Axios he's voting yes on the amendment. Myers did not respond to Axios' questions.
- Across the bay, Pinellas commission incumbents facing opposition this November also didn't say how they were voting.
- Commissioner Kathleen Peters didn't respond, while Commissioner Brian Scott issued a statement that didn't address how he was casting his ballot. Both are Republicans.
Meanwhile, their Democratic opponents both told Axios they were voting no. DeSantis and state lawmakers "didn't think through the consequences," said Tim Hughes, the conservation chair for the Suncoast Sierra Club, who is running against Scott.
- David Glenn Jr., an architect who is challenging Peters, said the lack of tax revenue would lead governments to charge fees for services instead that "will most likely total much more than any 'alleged' property tax savings."
Yes, but: Unlike Hughes, Glenn said he wouldn't take a pay cut if elected, noting that it would be "a small drop in the bucket" and that he's not independently wealthy.
- St. Petersburg City Council member Richie Floyd, who told Axios he's already voted no on Amendment 3, expressed a similar view. (City council elections are nonpartisan.)
- "I'm a working-class person with a family, and I already make half as much money as I would in the private sector," he said, adding that he's struggled to recruit qualified candidates for office due to pay. City Council members make about $69,000.