KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Budget concerns are mounting for many Central Florida cities as the state weighs a sweeping change to how property taxes are collected.
On Tuesday, Kissimmee approved a final budget that includes a hiring freeze as leaders brace for a potential loss in revenue.
While the plan keeps millage rates the same, it includes decisions aimed at keeping the city financially stable if voters approve Amendment 3.
“If we had a dollar for every time we heard the words tariffs, conflict, or recession this year, the City could fund a few additional police officers and firefighters. But those buzzwords are starting to hit home. The cost of government continues to rise,” City Manager Mike Steigerwald wrote in the proposed FY 26-2027 budget.
The $322 million budget is up from the previous year’s $310 million. Despite the increase, Steigerwald says the budget continues to “propel Kissimmee’s fiscally sound, conservative approach to managing taxpayer dollars” — all as the city approaches a population of 90,000.
The tax rate will stay at 4.6253 mills, which is $4.6253 for every $1,000 of taxable property value.
Construction of a community center has been canceled since the city cannot afford the positions to run it, and purchases of vehicles, equipment and other city needs have been put on hold for now.
The budget also includes a hiring freeze, meaning no new positions will be added to the city’s workforce. Kissimmee is not alone in that decision. Winter Springs, Apopka and Orlando have also either enacted a hiring freeze or are planning to if Amendment 3 passes. Osceola County also instituted a hiring freeze with its budget on Monday night.
For some Central Floridians, the potential loss of government jobs hits close to home.
“Yeah, it really sucks because when it comes to hiring, freezes. The job market already sucks as it is. And then now you’re talking about county and city jobs being cut as well. And those are jobs that give you a lot of great benefits, great pay and everything like that. So it sucks that that’s no longer available for people,” said Mindy Tucker.
If approved, Amendment 3 would expand the state’s property tax exemption, cutting taxes for homestead properties. For FY 25-2026, Kissimmee was projected to collect $31.1 million in property taxes — a revenue stream the city is actively preparing to lose.
“In this landscape of uncertainty we must be more prudent and intentional with every dollar more than ever,” Steigerwald wrote in the budget.
