[Gerrys]

You can also purchase a monthly trail fee of $20 per family, which will cover the trail fees on the executive golf courses.

[cycler]

Just read through the entire thread, and want to say thanks for all the responses. Certainly cleared up any misconceptions I had about HOA/Amenity Fees, and the difference. Certainly seems like a good bargain, the fees, for all that you get in return. Again, thanks for all the information shared. Appreciate it.

[coconutmama]

Originally Posted by LuvtheVillages

All newly built homes have a bond debt. You acquire the bond debt when you purchase a home. You pay it annually on your property tax bill.

Homes in the "historic section" have no bond.
Older homes have been paying on their bond annually, and the amount is therefore reduced.
Some homeowners have chosen to pay off their bond instead of making annual payments. They still have to pay the annual maintenance fee with their property tax. But they are saving the interest expense and the annual administration cost.

I would add that some villages in the county of Lady Lake, such as Pine Hill & Pine Ridge never had bonds. Of course their taxes are a bit higher.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by coconutmama

I would add that some villages in the county of Lady Lake, such as Pine Hill & Pine Ridge never had bonds. Of course their taxes are a bit higher.

Not correct. The houses in the Villages of Pine Hills and Pine Ridge all had or have bonds.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by coconutmama

I would add that some villages in the county of Lady Lake, such as Pine Hill & Pine Ridge never had bonds. Of course their taxes are a bit higher.

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

Not correct. The houses in the Villages of Pine Hills and Pine Ridge all had or have bonds.

Yep.

Pine Hills and Pine Ridge are District 11. District 11 bond amortization schedules can be found on districtgov.org

[donfey]

Golf IS FREE to residents and renters with a temporary resident I’d on Executive courses if you walk the course. The trail fee is for golf cart usage.

[jmaccallum]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

There are bond amortization schedule for Districts 1-14. I think that covers all homes but I could be wrong.

The Historic Section is not a CCD and the homes there never had bonds.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by coconutmama

I would add that some villages in the county of Lady Lake, such as Pine Hill & Pine Ridge never had bonds. Of course their taxes are a bit higher.

To clarify, Lady Lake is not a county, it is a town located in Lake County. The Villages of Pine Hills and Pine Ridge are located in Lake County within the City of Fruitland Park. They are not in Lady Lake.

[nn0wheremann]

Originally Posted by cycler

My wife and I are visiting the end of May and hope to find a rental in the fall, for a one month stay, to see if TV are for us. While doing research on TV I see the following terms and hence the question. Are amenities fees another way of saying HOA fees? If not are there two separate fees in TV and what is the difference between the two fees if they are not the same thing? Thanks in advance, cycler.

No HOA fees. Think of the Amenity fee as a parks & recreation district ( or if you are from Illinois a forest preserve district) tax. Florida prides itself as a low tax state. To preserve that fiction they call many of the things other states call property taxes “non ad-valorum fees”. Also, be aware if you buy in Sumter county villages you might get big “infrastructure bond”. That county owns the streets and sewers, but you must pay for their construction. In Marion county the bonds are minuscule or already paid off. Marion county Villagers own their streets, and pay for maintenance through a tax paid to Community Development District (CDD) 4.

[mntlblok]

Originally Posted by Bill14564

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong...

- The Developer owns everything initially - houses, roads, rec centers, dog parks, etc
- People purchase homes
- Most roads are turned over to the County
- A CDD is established for local governance and for maintenance of common areas
- Amenities (golf courses, pools, rec centers, dog parks, etc) are turned over to the Villages CDD covering the area (North of 466 = VCCDD, 44 to 466 = SLCDD, South of 44 = ???).
- "Turning over" might involve payment to the Developer

When the dust settles:
- The resident owns the home
- The numbered CDD owns the common area and the Villa roads
- The County owns the non-Villa roads
- The Villages area CDD (VCCDD or SLCDD) owns the amenities

Amenity fees are paid monthly monthly on your utility bill and go to the CDD covering the area (VCCDD or SLCDD). Amenity fees pay for gate attendants, rec center employees, neighborhood watch, pool chemicals, new roofs on the rec centers, etc.

Maintenance fees are paid yearly on your tax bill (about $500) and go to your numbered CDD (CDD10 gets mine). These fees are used for maintenance of common areas such as entrance signs, painting some villa walls, flowers, maintenance of villa roads, filling sinkholes near retention ponds, etc.

A portion of the Maintenance fees from Districts 5-11 (currently) are pooled for project-wide maintenance activities (mowing common areas, flowers in common areas, fixing sinkholes, etc). The Project Wide Advisory Committee (PWAC) is a group of supervisors from Districts 5-11 that advises the SLCDD on the use of the pooled funds. They also make recommendations to the SLCDD on the use of Amenity fees.


For those who are already owners, the Resident Academy is the place to learn about District Government from the experts.

Thank you. Most informative. Went and read up on how the executive courses are operated. I'll be moving to TV next month even more confident now that you folks have all this "figured out".

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jmaccallum

The Historic Section is not a CCD and the homes there never had bonds.

None of the Villages are CCDs.

The Historic section and some of the homes immediately surrounding Spanish Springs may not have had a bond. After that, it appears that all homes had bonds including Districts 11 and 14 in Lake County and District 4 in Marion County.

[jmaccallum]

Originally Posted by Laker14

If this is true than I have been misunderstanding the system. Not sure what you mean by "The Villages" when you say they own the amenities. My understanding is that The Developer owns the amenities in the newly developed areas until a certain point in time when the developing phase has ended, and then the amenities are bought by that particular CDD. Each separate CDD does not, however, administer the finances. There are 3 entities that do that. One of them is the developer for the aforementioned areas still owned by the developer, and the others have acronyms I don't remember, but they pool the money and administer the funds to pay for the amenity infrastructure and maintenance.

The CDD’s do not own any amenities. They are owned by LLC’s and maintained by the VCCDD, which employs everyone that works for the Villages. Two advisory boards, the AAC (Amenities Authority Committee) and the PWAC (Project Wide Advisory Committee) make suggestions to the VCCDD for improvements and such. Our Amenity Fees go to the VCCDD to pay for everything.

Maintenance fees are separate and in addition and are established by the CDD you live within by the CDD elected Board. For new CDD’s it takes about 5 years before all Board Members are residents. At the start of the CDD Board Members are appointed and each year thereafter one position is filled with a resident member. The CDD Maintenance Fee is different for each CDD and is used to cover Common Area expenses that particular CDD is responsible for maintaining.

The governing/maintenance system of the Villages can seem baffling. It is complex with many components but not really that difficult to understand, and it works pretty well.

[LSTOWELL]

Originally Posted by snbrafford

I wanted to add that no golf is free. You can pay as you go at executive golf courses or if you play a lot, you can pay an annual "trail fee" - either way it's pretty cheap golf but not free. You can play the championship courses but not free. I've not stayed up with the cost of the premier membership but it only reduces the cost to play. For us, the executives are challenge enough.

The golf on the executive courses are FREE if you are a Villager...what costs you is if you ride in a cart..then you have a cart fee..but you can walk and play for free on the executive courses..you can buy a 6 month or annual cart fee for 100 or so!!!

[Laker14]

Originally Posted by jmaccallum

The CDD’s do not own any amenities. They are owned by LLC’s and maintained by the VCCDD, which employs everyone that works for the Villages. Two advisory boards, the AAC (Amenities Authority Committee) and the PWAC (Project Wide Advisory Committee) make suggestions to the VCCDD for improvements and such. Our Amenity Fees go to the VCCDD to pay for everything.

Maintenance fees are separate and in addition and are established by the CDD you live within by the CDD elected Board. For new CDD’s it takes about 5 years before all Board Members are residents. At the start of the CDD Board Members are appointed and each year thereafter one position is filled with a resident member. The CDD Maintenance Fee is different for each CDD and is used to cover Common Area expenses that particular CDD is responsible for maintaining.

The governing/maintenance system of the Villages can seem baffling. It is complex with many components but not really that difficult to understand, and it works pretty well.

Thank you for the explanation. Who owns and controls the LLCs that own the amenities? What does the acronym VCCDD stand for?

[Goldwingnut]

Originally Posted by Laker14

Thank you for the explanation. Who owns and controls the LLCs that own the amenities? What does the acronym VCCDD stand for?

They are NOT owned by an LLC, they are owed by the 2 commercial CDDs - Village Center Community Development District (VCCDD) and Sumter Landing Community Development District (SLCDD).