First full year Tax bill!!
 

Dabney (not Enclave), Kingfisher model, and we didn't move in time to get the Homestead exemption this year. The bill was $10,509.31! I was surprised/floored, but then realized the VCDD 14 Debt was $3030.22 of it and there's another $659.13 for VCDD 14 Maintenance. I never remembered in other states paying both a State ($1325.66) and Local ($1272.20) public school tax. Then there's both a Water Authority ($124.76) and a St Johns Water Mgmt ($76.09) tax, and I don't even know what each do and why this tax isn't part of our water bills or maintenance costs. Then there's a tax for Environ Land Purchase ($38.96), which I don't understand. Then there's N Lake County Hosp ($173.98), which I don't see us ever using because it's not nearly the closest. The Ambulance MSTU ($196.43) seems reasonable. Even though our paperwork when we built/bought the house said we were in Okahumpka, we were informed this summer that we're in Leesburg, so now we have to pay City of Leesburg ($1474.69). Looking at Cost of Living in The Villages(R): Affordable 55+ Community our taxes are almost double. Anyway, OUCH!

There are multiple threads about the tax bill with information that might be useful. You can also contact your County tax collector for more information.

The two CDD lines are your bond and annual maintenance fee. Goldwingnut has YouTube videos explaining those.

There is no State school tax. There is a certain amount of school tax that the State requires the County to collect and a portion that the County chooses to collect above that. The amounts are broken out for transparency but both lines come from the County School Board.

I don’t have a bond, I don’t live in an incorporated area, I pay Sumter taxes, and I do have the Homestead exemption and Save Our Homes credit. $4,500 of what you listed will not appear on my bill and possibly $250 beyond that. If I subtract that amount from your bill then you and I are only about $1,500 apart. The exemption and credit that you were not yet eligible for might make up that difference.

The North Lake County Hospital district fee tripped me up too at first. I had to look it up when we got the bill. Turns out it's an independent district, not an actual hospital. The fee is paid by all property owners to help offset the costs of hospital and clinic care to indigent (homeless) patients.

I appreciate the cost break down

That is high!! Especially for Florida!

There were rumors that property taxes were significantly higher in Lake County than in Sumter. Looks like the rumor is true.

The Villages should update the cost of living numbers to show the difference between Lake and Sumter counties!

And they are higher in Marion county. Just cause state has no state tax they make up for it in other ways.

Not to be negative but homestead exemption only lessens the value of your home by $50,000 and will have a minor impact. You did not mention what you paid for the home. On bright side your future taxes can not increase more than 3%.

Could be just me, but that seems outlandish to pay a tax to take care of indigent patients. I’ve never heard of such a thing. Yes, I’m new to Fla & TV.

Welcome to "the free state of Florida". This only the beginning. Wait until you try to buy a car or pay for hvac service or most anything else.

You will pay just as much or more for those things you mentioned in other States too. Inflation over the past 4 years has been horrendous!

Our Taxes in District 5
 

That is an outrageous amount of taxes in District 14. We live in District 5, the house is 1954 SF and we just paid $3,038 total tax. Our bond is paid up and we do have $50,000 homestead exemption.

Welcome to the Villages! It’s not cheap to live in the Villages Florida!

And what were you expecting from a state without Income Tax? How much did you pay in State Income Tax before moving to the Villages?

Vcdd 14
 

The VCDD debt must be $75,000 or more which basically means that you are paying $75,000 or more over and above the price of the house.
We are in District 5 and the original debt was $25,000 which is paid up now in our case.

Just curious, what is the Save Our Homes Crdit?

Save our homes means the assessed value of your home can’t increase more than 3% a year. It also is portable , so if you move from a lower price home your new homes assessment can’t be more that 3% over the old even if you paid more for your new home. We are in Sumter county with lower taxes

I believe this is a somewhat False statement. Your assessed valuation of your home can not go up by more than 3% (the difference in the assessment each year is added to the Save Your Home exemption) but the tax milage rate is not capped.

If you have the homestead exemption then the Save Our Homes credit limits the annual assessment increase to 3% or the CPI, whichever is less. If assessments continue to go up then the difference between the market value of your home and the limited assessment value continues to grow. The SOH benefit can easily exceed $100,000 which means you don’t pay taxes on that much of your home.

The biggest impact will be seen when a home is sold. The homestead exemption and any SOH benefit follows the previous owner. The assessment adjusts to full value for the new owner which can be a surprise.

south of 44 is expensive for sure. bonds, taxes, fees, county, Wildwood, the villages, yep

This doesn’t sound right. The accumulated SOH benefit is portable to the new home. The same amount will be deducted from the market value of the new home as was deducted from the market value of the old home.

If you move from a $200K home to a $400K home your market value should increase by $200K. With the SOH portability, all or part of your accumulated benefit would then be subtracted from the new market value.

Rumor?
 

People - just do your homework before buying. I had a spreadsheet and came within $100 …

YES totally agree with the no state taxes is made up in other taxes, fees, etc

We live in a designer home in District 7 which is in the unincorporated part of Sumter County. Our home is 409 sq. ft. less than your home and our total bill, including the Bond and with the Homestead Exemption, is $3,679.77. You live in the incorporated part of Lake County which has the highest real estate taxes of the three countries in The Villages. Didn’t you inquire into real estate taxes when you did your due diligence when you bought your house?

We live south of 44 in Sumter county and our taxes with the Homestead Exemption came in at about the same $10,000+ figure. That more than we paid in Oregon or California. Ugh.

Not totally correct. The 3% cap you speak of comes courtesy of the Save Our Homes Act, also known as Portability. But...the SOH credit only applies to those eligible for the Homestead Exemption. And, the SOH credit does not kick in until the 2nd year of having the Homestead Exemption. The SOH credit does not cap taxes at a 3% increase each year; rather, it caps the annual increase in assessed valuation of the home at 3%, or the CPI, whichever is less.

Over 1/3 of your tax bill comes from the non ad valorem items, the majority of that being the Bond payment. The only way you will ever see a decrease in those line items would be to pay off the Bond, which may or may not be advisable, depending on your personal situation.

Welcome to TV!

Tax Bill
 

[QUOTE=Bill14564;2385208]There are multiple threads about the tax bill with information that might be useful. You can also contact your County tax collector for more information.

Your response is one of the best I have ever read here!

This is all information the realtors, both Villages and MLS, do a great job of concealing. What county you live in is key, as well as price of bond and how it actually works.

Wait til you see the insurance bills, for cars and home.

Agree that TV should update the cost of living info by county but doubt they will. They just want to sell homes and we need to do our own due diligence.

Recently we were on the trolley tour of the new areas. The lady giving the spiel was so glowing it was laughable. Even said the Daily Sun was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. I guess anything or anyone can be nominated for a prize? We suggested to a potential new buyer to do their due diligence about location but I think he thought we were joking.

That’s what I’ve heard about living/buying down south. Taxes/bonds are much higher than pre owned houses north of 44.

Wow, thanks for the info..

And that, Sir, is exactly why folks should strongly consider living in the northern end of The Villages. Besides multiple other benefits not accorded the south end, we don't have a bond to pay, nor any city tax to pay, nor any other of those little taxes that add up. My taxes are under $2500/year...just sayin'

$3700 in bond stuff. That’s a big chunk of your bill. Your post is incomplete without a price of the house to compare with other areas.

The price of the house will be similar to other homes in that area. The market value of the house can be determined from the tax amounts in the post.

Comparing with others areas is difficult due to being in different counties with different tax rates and structures.

Have bought 2 houses in the historical side of the villages. In both cases the 1st year taxes were reduced by what the previous owners qualified for for homestead exception. Of course if you bought new there is no previous owner.

Agree but was trying to point out that there are caps. Have lived in Florida entire life and have seen millage rate go down. Before this law, if my home went up 20% in value in one year county could raise my tax rates 20% even though their costs did not go up 20%

You should have moved to CDD 4, Marion County. The Bonds are usually paid off, and the whole bond was not much more than your annual payment.

Taxes are based on the purchase/sale price of the house. Buy a smaller pre owned home, and it's not that expensive.

crazy

We think our property taxes are very reasonable.

We moved here in 2016 and bought a new house for $400K. According to Zillow, it is now worth about $750K.

Our yearly property tax is $4600, just about the same we paid on a $500K house in Virginia.

We live in Osceola Hills, which is an un-incorporated (to our knowledge) village just north of Lake Deaton shopping center. If we lived in an incorporated area like Wildwood or Fruitland Park, I guess our taxes would be a few hundred dollars more.