7 min read

Property tax news roundup — June 26, 2026

Last reviewed Sources & methodology

The loud stories this week are reform proposals across the South — Florida's homestead amendment heading to the November ballot, Mississippi studying a full senior exemption. Both are worth understanding, but neither has changed a bill yet. The changes that have are smaller and local: a few councils raised rates, a few cut them, one county swapped property tax for sales tax, and an Illinois court threw out the way the state used to seize homes over small debts. We've sorted them by what's actually in effect versus what's still just a proposal — because that's the distinction that decides whether it touches your bill.

Florida and Mississippi: big reforms, still on paper

Florida's "Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes Amendment" (HJR 1F) would raise the homestead exemption for non-school taxes from the current $50,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with annual inflation adjustments after that. There's a catch worth flagging now: anyone who establishes Florida residency after January 1, 2027 would have to wait five years to qualify for the full exemption. The amendment is also already in court — a lawsuit in Leon County argues the ballot language reads as an endorsement rather than a neutral description. None of this is settled: it goes to voters in November and needs 60% approval to take effect.

Mississippi is earlier still. The Mississippi House has formed a select committee to study property tax relief ahead of the 2027 session, and one idea on the table is a 100% exemption on primary residences owned by seniors over 65. That's a study, not a bill — but it signals the same direction the rest of the region is moving.

If you own in Florida, the practical move while this plays out is to model a larger exemption against your own bill with the homestead exemption savings calculator (remember it's the non-school portion only), check where local rates sit on the Florida property tax by ZIP page, and read how today's rules actually work in the Florida property tax guide. Mississippi homeowners can see current local rates on the Mississippi property tax by ZIP page.

Local rates: who raised, who cut, and why

This is where the real changes are — councils adjusting their own rates for very different reasons. Cary, North Carolina approved an 8% property tax increase to fund a three-year public safety recovery plan, adding police and fire positions after years of underinvestment; for the typical Cary homeowner that's about $15 more a month. Red Bank, Tennessee approved its third hike in five years, raising the rate to $1.29 to keep municipal salaries competitive.

Going the other way, the Bossier Parish School Board in Louisiana approved two millage decreases — the primary rate from 26.57 to 26.50 mills, and a sinking-fund millage from 11.0 to 10.0 mills — for roughly $1.56 million in aggregate taxpayer savings. The cut was possible because a sinking fund set up for a 2012 bond now holds enough to cover the upcoming debt payments, so the levy that fed it could come down. That's the useful lesson hiding in a dry school-board vote: a rate can fall not because spending dropped but because an old debt is nearly paid off. If your own bill moved, the mill rate calculator shows how a change in the rate translates to dollars, and you can compare local rates on the North Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana ZIP pages.

Relief for seniors and primary residents — if you claim it

A recurring theme: the relief exists, but it isn't automatic. In the St. Louis area of Missouri, seniors 62 and older face a near-term application deadline to freeze property taxes on their primary residence — miss it and you wait for the next cycle. In Ohio, Columbiana and Trumbull Counties approved a 2.5% Owner Occupancy tax cut, though for now it's authorized for just one year.

The clearest case is Duval County, Florida, where a News4JAX I-TEAM investigation found more than 24,000 homeowners eligible for homestead exemptions they've never claimed. Average savings run about $900 a year; one local veteran was documented losing roughly $6,000 over eight years simply by not filing. The exemption is not applied for you — it takes a manual filing with the county. If you're not sure you've claimed yours, our homestead exemption explainer walks through how to file and how to recover missed years, the homestead exemption savings calculator estimates what it's worth, and the senior and veteran exemptions guide covers the freeze-type programs like Missouri's.

The sales-tax swap: lower property tax, higher checkout

Warren County, Ohio approved a 0.5% sales tax increase to offset property tax relief — a "tax shift" the county can lean on because an estimated 50% to 60% of local spending comes from visitors to regional malls and theme parks, not residents. The homeowner math looks good on one side: a resident with a $300,000 home may see about $470 in property tax savings. The trade-off is real, though — a $30,000 vehicle purchase now costs about $150 more in sales tax, and the county still expects a $5 million shortfall from the shift that has to be absorbed in the general budget. It's the same concern policy analysts have raised about Florida's amendment: when you pull revenue out of property tax, it tends to reappear as fees or other taxes somewhere else. You can see where Ohio's local rates stand on the Ohio property tax by ZIP page.

The legal front: equity, accuracy, and a constitutional line

The most consequential item this week is a court ruling. In Cook County, Illinois, a federal judge found the old "tax deed" system unconstitutional under the 5th and 8th Amendments — the cases where a homeowner lost an entire property, and all the equity in it, over a small debt like a $2,340 unpaid bill. That fed into the passage of House Bill 4537, which requires public auctions for tax deeds and creates a surplus-equity fund so the government can't keep the windfall above what was actually owed.

New Orleans is the assessment-accuracy version of the same theme. Investigations found inconsistent assessments — high-value renovations the assessor's office missed, including a home carried at $480,000 against a $1.3 million market estimate. The result is a lopsided appeal pattern: 500 owners in Orleans Parish appealed to the state, compared with just six in neighboring Jefferson Parish. The takeaway for any homeowner is the durable one — if your assessment looks wrong, the fix is to appeal it. Our step-by-step appeal guide covers how to build comps and what evidence actually moves an assessor, and the assessment appeal savings calculator estimates what a successful appeal is worth; Illinois and Louisiana rates sit on the Illinois and Louisiana ZIP pages.

A different use of the tax: penalizing blight

Portsmouth, Virginia is using property tax as a code- enforcement tool. A new ordinance adds a 5% rate increase for properties classified "blighted" and 10% for those deemed "derelict" — where "derelict" means vacant, boarded up, and cut off from electricity or water for at least six months. The point isn't revenue; it's pressure on owners of nuisance buildings to repair or occupy them, to protect the value of the homes around them. Virginia rates are on the Virginia property tax by ZIP page.

What to watch

  • Florida: the "Save Our Homes" amendment is on the November 3 ballot and needs 60% to pass — and the Leon County ballot-language lawsuit could still shape it.
  • Cook County, Illinois: a bench trial on the county's liability for the old tax-deed system is set for April 7–9, 2026.
  • Ohio: Columbiana County's 2.5% owner-occupancy cut takes effect in 2027, payable in 2028 — and it's only authorized for one year so far.
  • Mississippi: the senior-exemption idea is a 2027-session study, not a bill — watch whether it's actually introduced.

Sources

This roundup synthesizes recent US property-tax coverage on YouTube into themes rather than summarizing each clip, and separates what's enacted from what's still a proposal. Florida's HJR 1F and Mississippi's senior exemption are proposals — a November ballot question and a study committee, respectively — not changes to your current bill. The local rate moves (Cary, Red Bank, Bossier Parish, Warren County's sales-tax swap, Portsmouth's blight ordinance, Columbiana County's cut) and the Cook County ruling plus Illinois HB 4537 are enacted. Confirm any specific number with your county or state before relying on it. The underlying videos: