Final Amendment 3 Update, Help Pull Invasives, and More
October 31, 2026 Weekly Newsletter
Amendment 3: Deep Dive Into
Four Reasons to Vote No
Amendment 3 is the biggest decision on your ballot this year. After five months of covering it, here's where IRNA stands and why. Our board voted unanimously in June to oppose it, and everything we've learned since has reinforced that decision.
It cuts the money that pays for public safety
Property taxes are the largest funding source for the sheriff's office and fire rescue (deputies, paramedics, stations, equipment, and 911 dispatch). Indian River County Fire Rescue alone could lose $15 to $20 million. That's why the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Florida Professional Firefighters, and the Florida Fire Chiefs' Association all oppose it. In Martin County, officials warned it could cost 1 in 3 firefighters their jobs. The state has offered no plan to replace that money.
Your tax cut may not stick
The services don't go away when the revenue does. Counties and cities can raise millage rates, add fees, or lean on special assessments to fill the gap, and any of those can eat into the savings homeowners were promised. The judge who threw out the amendment's original ballot summary made this exact point. Whatever isn't covered gets shifted onto businesses and rental property, and those costs come back to all of us through prices and rent.
The hit here is real
County Administrator John Titkanich estimates Indian River County would lose $22 million in the first year and $41 million the year after (about $63 million over two years), out of a budget of roughly $598 million. The county has already laid off seven employees and drawn up $97 million in proposed cuts to prepare. This is a county that has spent 20 years trimming staff and keeping its millage among the lowest in the state. There isn't fat left to cut.
The lagoon pays a price too
Florida's water management districts depend on property taxes and have almost nowhere else to turn for money. The St. Johns River Water Management District, which covers the Indian River Lagoon, would see its property tax base cut by about 30%. Legislators had the chance to protect the districts the way they protected schools, and they said no. Here at home, nearly every water quality win (septic-to-sewer, stormwater projects, lagoon restoration) was paid for with local dollars, or used local dollars to pull down state and federal grants. Shrink that base and clean water moves to the back of the line.
Nobody likes their property tax bill, and there were better ways to deliver relief. Amendment 3 isn't well thought out. It needs 60% to pass, and because it would be written into the Constitution, it would be very hard to undo.
Amendment 3 Is Losing the People Who Wrote It
Amendment 3 is starting to lose the lawmakers who put it on our ballot.
In June, the Florida Legislature held a special session that lasted about 48 hours and sent the property tax amendment to voters. The Senate vote was 30-9, and every Republican present voted yes. Four months later, two of the most powerful of those Republicans say they’ll vote no.
The first was former Senate President Kathleen Passidomo of Naples. She said she voted “yes” because voters should get to decide. Then she was booked to make the case for Amendment 3 at the Collier County Bar Association and told the lawyers she’s voting against it. Her verdict on the “well-intentioned bill”: “the road to hell is paved with them.”
Then last week came Senate President Ben Albritton, who presided over the vote. In a May 27 memo to Senators before the special session, he wrote that he could not think of a better way to mark America’s 250th than $250,000 in tax relief for every Florida homeowner, and promised the plan would deliver that relief while “safeguarding local funding for public safety.” Now he says the amendment would eliminate up to 30 percent of resources for Florida’s rural counties, gutting support for law enforcement, emergency response and critical infrastructure. In his words, “Tax relief shouldn’t fall hardest on the communities least able to absorb it.”
Governor DeSantis has done his own about-face, in the other direction. In June, after months of pushing for property tax cuts, he said he didn’t think he would campaign for the amendment, in part because it wasn’t the version he had requested. Now, with the election less than two weeks away, he’s assembled locally elected Miami officials to speak in support of it. His explanation for the defections? “Most of the people in the Legislature did not want to do property tax.”
That’s a remarkable thing for a governor to say about a constitutional amendment the Legislature approved by a supermajority. If he’s right, Albritton and Passidomo may not be the only ones having second thoughts. They’re just the only ones saying so out loud.
The amendment needs 60 percent to pass. Two lawmakers have told us how they’ll vote. As for the rest of the legislators who put this on our ballot, who knows what they’ll do in the privacy of the ballot box.
Vero City Council showing signs of impatience with Three Corners team (Vero News) - The Vero Beach City Council granted ClearBlue Holdings a fourth negotiating extension through December 8 to secure financing for public amenities at the planned 250 million dollar Three Corners waterfront development, while warning that local officials are growing impatient with the ongoing delays.
Sea turtles set Indian River County nesting record with 14,083 nests (Sebastian Daily) - Sea turtles established a new record in Indian River County by depositing 14,083 nests along the local coastline this season, reflecting long-term conservation progress even as late storms affected some remaining sites.
Indian River County deputies help rescue manatee stranded in ditch amid king tides (Sebastian Daily) - Indian River County sheriff’s deputies and state wildlife officials rescued a manatee stranded in a shallow ditch following high king tides and safely relocated the animal to another area within the county.
Florida beach renourishment dune lost to king tide, nor'easter storm (TCPalm) - Severe coastal erosion from king tides and nor'easter winds washed away newly restored dunes along Indian River County beaches, underscoring local officials' view of beach renourishment as an ongoing coastal management strategy rather than a permanent solution.
Pull Some Invasives: Weed Wrangle Nov 14
Weed Wrangle is back on Saturday, November 14, from 9 to 11 AM at the City of Sebastian’s Stormwater Park, and IRNA is looking to help Pelican Island Audubon with finding volunteers to pitch in.
It’s the next of four Weed Wrangles funded by a new Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area (CISMA) grant shared by IRNA, Pelican Island Audubon, and the City of Sebastian. Volunteers pull air potato vine, Brazilian pepper, caesarweed, wedelia, and other invasives that crowd out native plants and the wildlife that depend on them. You’ll learn how to identify each one and get rid of it safely (air potato spreads through little aerial “potatoes” called bulbils, so every one you bag counts).
It’s good practice for home, too. The first rule of Florida-Friendly Landscaping is “right plant, right place,” and several of these invaders (wedelia and air potato especially) show up in yards all over the county. Learn to spot them Saturday morning, then go check your own yard. Swapping them for natives means less water, less fertilizer, and less runoff headed for the lagoon.
To volunteer, email Missy@IndianRiverNA.com.
Today is the last day to vote early in Indian River County, and if you haven’t voted yet, now’s the time. Early voting sites are open until 4 p.m. today, and you can vote at any of the four, no matter where you live in the county:
Sebastian City Hall Council Chambers, 1225 Main Street, Sebastian
Indian River County Main Library, 1600 21st Street, Vero Beach
Supervisor of Elections Office, 4375 43rd Avenue, Vero Beach
Intergenerational Recreation Center (Room 112), 1590 9th Street SW, Vero Beach
Bring photo and signature ID (a Florida driver’s license works, as do a U.S. passport or military ID). If your photo ID doesn’t have a signature, you’ll need a second ID that does.
Still have a mail ballot on your kitchen counter? Don’t trust the mail at this point. Drop it at a secure ballot intake station at any early voting site today. It must reach the Supervisor of Elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
Can’t make it today? Polls are open November 3 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at your assigned precinct. Click here to find your election day polling place. Visit voteindianriver.gov or call (772) 226-4700 for sample ballots, wait times, local election results, and more.
See where City Council Candidates stand on important issues here.
November Marks Manatee Month as Conservation Stays Critical (Scubaverse) - Save the Manatee Club marks November as Manatee Awareness Month by urging public vigilance, habitat protection, and responsible boating amid ongoing environmental threats and recent federal regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act.
Florida manatee habitat ruling sent back to court after US wildlife agency changed the definition of harm under endangered species law | World News - The Times of India (The Times of India) - A federal appeals court vacated an injunction against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and remanded the North Indian River Lagoon manatee habitat lawsuit back to the district court following a revised Endangered Species Act definition of harm by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Florida clams used to revive Indian River Lagoon seagrass ecosystem (TCPalm) - Martin County environmental crews have deployed over three million clams alongside seagrass plantings in the Indian River Lagoon to test whether shellfish filtration can clear polluted water and support lasting ecosystem restoration.
What is DeSantis's environmental legacy? (VoteWater) - Florida has spent billions on Everglades restoration, but nutrients in the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee keep building, and the piece makes the case that real progress means tackling pollution at its source.
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