Florida Sheriff’s Association launches ad campaign against Amendment 3

Seminole County Dennis Lemma (R) was blunt Tuesday afternoon.“It would be devastating,” he told the Seminole County Board of Commissioners about a possible budget reduction due to Amendment Three. “It is the biggest threat to the office of sheriff.”Lemma is talking about the ballot initiative, which would lower property taxes by increasing the homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. The amendment would also reduce the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead properties from 10% to 5%. If the amendment passes, Lemma said he’ll have to remove around 300 positions, both vacant and filled.“Before eliminating positions, we would make a difficult reductions throughout the organization,” Lemma said. “We would freeze hiring. We would eliminate vacant positions that are not necessary to make mandatory responsibilities. We would rely on normal attrition whenever responsible, consolidate functions, reduce operating expenses, delay replacing of vehicles, equipment