[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by Goldwingnut

The easy way to keep this straight is:
A) the bonds help build the villages - infrastructure
B) The maintenance assessments keeps it looking nice and operating properly
C) The amenities fees are what pay for the fun things here

Don't believe all the half-truths you read on that other site, they only print enough to get you to click on their site and pages (that's how they make money, it's called click-bait).

Here's the other half of the story on the 12% CDD-12 and 8% other CDD possible increase. These are only early budget estimates and the final numbers will not be calculated until late August or early September. A number has to be presented 90 days prior to final approval and once presented it can go no higher, only lower. The 12% increase that was reported is for the Project Wide Fund (PWF) portion of their budget. A significant part of that increase is due to the increased acreage and maintenance that comes with the property as it is developed, this part of the increase is covered by the additional maintenance assessments collect by the new homes that have been sold, so there is a net zero impact from that increase.

The second half of the increase and the increase the other CDDs are seeing is due to past years increased costs. Previously the PWAC has utilize "working capital" to fund some of the costs of operating the PWF. The working capital budget was over funded for the 3-4 months of reserves it was designed for. Basically we were using our savings account to fund some of our budget. Last year this was about $750K. Now the working capital is at just over the 3 months of reserves (about $4 million) so to keep it healthy we can't draw it down further. Now we have to live off our monthly paycheck so to speak.

Last year a 3% increase was projected for the PWF contribution but PWAC funded half of this with working capital and only passed a 1.5% increase on to the districts. Most districts then funded this out of their working capital budgets and few saw any maintenance assessment increase (south of CR466).

Our budgets and reserves are stable and healthy but the days of spending from our savings are coming to an end.

One last note, last year at this time the project PWF increase to be passed to the districts was about 17%, the final budget increase was 1.5% when approved in September. Will it be the same this year, I can't say for sure, but I am optimistic that it won't be and 8 or 12% increase.

Read this again, Pennbf.