The Town now has an Amendment 3 page, with a tax calculator
A homestead calculator, an Oct. 22 mail ballot deadline and a late-October tide warning.
Here's a number worth carrying into the voting booth: by Deputy Town Manager Bob Miracle's count, Amendment 3 would cost Town Hall roughly $3 million in property taxes in 2027.
Amendment 3 is complicated enough, Deputy Town Manager Bob Miracle says, that the Town wanted residents to have more to go on than the ballot language. Its new explainer page sits under "Current Issues" on TownOfPalmBeach.com. The handiest piece is a link to the county property appraiser's Amendment 3 calculator: plug in your property and see what the change would do to your tax bill. By law, the Town takes no side.
Voters decide Nov. 3. If it passes, a homesteaded owner's exemption from non-school taxes would climb to $150,000 in 2027 from $50,000, then to $250,000 in 2028. All nonhomestead property, including second homes, rentals and commercial buildings, would see its yearly assessment cap fall to 5% from 10%.
Town Hall would feel it, too. Miracle told the Town Council in June that the combined changes would trim roughly $3 million from town property tax collections in 2027 and about $4 million in 2028. Supporters say the amendment would lighten the load on overburdened taxpayers. Opponents warn that lost revenue for cities and towns means cuts to services. Rep. Emily Gregory, a Democrat whose District 87 includes Palm Beach, cautioned the council in July that the legislative process built into the proposal could pave the way for abolishing property taxes outright.
The page also links to the amendment's entry on the state Division of Elections site, plus an RSVP link for the Civic Association's Welcome Back Community Forum on Oct. 28 at 60 Cocoanut Row, home of Royal Poinciana Chapel. Amendment 3 is the panel's central topic. Gregory joins Miracle, Property Appraiser Dorothy Jacks and Casey Cook of the Florida League of Cities on the panel.
United Bankshares plans a Royal Palm Way office
Palm Beach would give United Bankshares its first foothold in Florida, part of a push across the Southeast. The parent of United Bank reported about $34 billion in consolidated assets at the end of June and runs more than 240 offices in nine states and Washington, D.C.
Its planned office, at 218 Royal Palm Way, would handle commercial and private banking, wealth and treasury management, and loans for clients on the island and around South Florida, from families to business owners. It opens only if regulators sign off.
Terence Callahan, who will lead the bank's Palm Beach business, calls Palm Beach "a tremendous opportunity" and says the bank wants to compete at the top level here. A company veteran of more than 10 years who helped grow its Washington, D.C., business, he would steer development in Florida. Chris Battifarano, United's chief investment officer, would lead the wealth team. He has close to 30 years in Palm Beach, a decade of it as FineMark Bank & Trust's investment chief.
Mail ballot requests close at 5 p.m. Oct. 22
Palm Beach County voters have three ways to cast a ballot this fall: by mail, early in person, or at their neighborhood polls on Election Day.
Mail closes first. Requests must be in by 5 p.m. Oct. 22. Completed ballots must be back by 7 p.m. Nov. 3, and postmarks don't count, so a ballot still in transit at that hour is too late.
Early voting runs Oct. 19 through Nov. 1, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and any early site in the county will take your vote. On Election Day, Nov. 3, neighborhood polls keep the same hours.
Peak king tides line up with the year's strongest moon pull
Seawater could spill into low-lying parts of the island this fall. The Town's forecast puts the worst flooding at Oct. 26-29, when the moon's pull is at its strongest for the year, inside a highest-risk stretch from Oct. 22 to Nov. 12. A second round, Nov. 22-29, could bring extreme peaks around Nov. 24-27.
King tides arrive a few times a year, mostly in fall. Rain and wind stacked on a high tide make flooding more likely.
The Town asks residents to keep an eye on the weather and to keep their cars off flooded streets.