Not sure if I can make it any clearer than others have, but I’ll give it a go…
First, you would not be paying double the taxes if you live within the borders of a municipality (Fruitland Park, Wildwood, Leesburg). It will certainly increase your tax bill, potentially by $1000 per year, more or less, depending on the value of your home and current tax rate in that municipality. The current millage rate in Wildwood is roughly 2.8, for reference.

Here is what will be on your tax bill:

County: You will pay the county where the home is, based on the millage rate in that county and your property’s assessed value. Yes, you receive a deduction for homestead if you are full time, in Jan of the year following your purchase… I think that’s accurate. It is $25,000 on the first… gosh, I don’t recall, but maybe the first $150,000 of your assessed value, then another $25,000 for the next $150,000 or whatever that number is, so $50,000 total deduction.

Municipality: as stated above. There are unincorporated areas within the villages that do not have municipal taxes. Those areas are only in Marion and parts of Sumter county as far as I know…

School assessment for state and county. You will only receive the first $25,000 homestead deduction for purposes of calculating school tax.

Water district assessment.

Fire assessment.

Maintenance assessment.

Bond. This can be $2000 or more yearly, depending on where you buy. If you buy in an older section, the bond may likely be paid off already, or be paid down significantly, so something to consider.

You can try the County Property Appraiser website for more info, or try calling one of the county appraiser’s offices.

Hope this helps. Anyone, please correct anything I have wrong!

If you want the answer, ask the agent to show you the latest tax bill for that property. You should also be able to find it online.

I pay Sumter County taxes; Sumter County School taxes; City of Wildwood taxes; and SWFWMD (Southwest Florida Water Management District) taxes. These are Ad Valorem taxes. You would also pay Sumter Fire Assessment; Maintenance; and bond. These are non-ad Valorem assessments. They are assessments - not taxes so I don't think they are deductible - but talk to a CPA or tax attorney.

If you buy in Sumter and if you do not live within the City of Wildwood, you would not pay City taxes (about $700 a year) but I think you would pay the remaining taxes and fees.

I believe the cheapest property taxes would be in a Village that is in an UNincorporated area of Sumter County. A realtor should be able to help you find that.

Being in Sumter County and not in a city and having SECo for electric is a significant savings over other options

This is very true.

AND, many of these homes have been paying on their bond for 8-15 years. Or have chosen to pay off their bond. So that is another big savings.

Thanks..
 

Thanks, THIS I understand.

Let me answer a different way. The Villages are located in three different counties. You pay taxes to the county you your house is in. I believe that Sumter county has the lowest tax rate, but you can check that separately. In all cases , if you reside in an incorporated City, you will also pay city taxes above and beyond the county taxes. Sometimes hard to see any additional benefits.

I did the research. Attached is a comparison of taxes throughout The Villages.

This is excellent, thank you for doing the research.

My follow up questions (not necessarily for you specifically) would be: How does each county approach reassessment of a resell? Are all reassessments 100% of the sale price regardless of county? Are they a percentage (e.g., 80%) of the sale price with each county having their own 'formula'?

I know county sites have tax estimator tools where you plug in a sale price and location and it spits out estimated tax bill, but I'd kind of like to know how the sausage is made regarding reassessment.

Marion country has highest taxes and district 4 highest yearly maintenance fees. But, less traffic all year round. VA clinic of CR42 which in district 4. Resales in 1 though 4 mostly no bonds or little left on them. Don’t forget bonds they can vary on new or newer homes unforeseen large cost also. Maintenance fees in all areas are going to go up. Way up IMO due all golf course maintenance next year?

Unincorporated is the way to go. You get everything without paying the ridiculous city taxes that buy nothing.

Maintenance assessments do not go to support the golf courses. The golf course maintenance is done from the Amenity fee which is limited to increases annually by the CPI.

Didn’t they remove cap?

So who going to pay for all golf course repairs next year? How else are going to get that money from residents? Then, amenities going to go up? Where else is millions going to come from?

The amenity fee will go up with the annual CPI adjustment, no more than that.
The money will come from the R&R (repair and replacement) fund, as it always does for this kind of work. That's what it's there for.
Additions to the R&R fund is included in every year's budget, as are withdraws.
The annual deferral rate was eliminated because prices continue to rise but revenue did not, we were 2-3 years away from having to withdraw from the R&R fund and apply it to the general fund budget just to cover operating costs (not adding additional to the R&R fund)

I've seen her videos. She has a decent YT channel