Vccd
 

My amenity fee $158 up from $149. Irrigation can be lowered by reducing zone watering times. Then you will have brown areas. My mailbox 4 years ago was $100 - now no charge.

Given how much rain we seem to have around here in the summer months is it really necessary to keep the sprinklers turned on?

We water for one hour once a week in 3 out of 4 zones and our charge per month is under $10 dollars. The lawn is perfect. I had great difficulty programming the Irrigation Timer that came with the house. It must have been the original. The number were tiny, no directions on the internet to help me so we changed to an Obits Timer $49.97

Orbit 6-Station Indoor/Outdoor Irrigation Timer
Item #309595
Model #27896 We got it at Lowes 4 years ago and anytime I need to make any adjustment its a snap. I found out that I was running the old one on several different programs and it was still operational. I was the problem. With this new Orbits, it's hard to screw it up and if you feel like you made an error you just push the reset button and start over. All the directions are easy to follow on YouTube. After the first few times, you don't even need help anymore.

I was shocked by the first bill we got but the explanation from the lady I called ironed things out and after the first bill there have been no other surprises. It was a while back so I don't have the number or name of the lady I called. They trip over themselves trying to be helpful. We are not accustomed to that from where we are from. Good Luck, your gonna be fine.

PO fee is a one time fee and when selling your property it will show up again as a credit

You don’t feel that cold blast when you open you’re mail box door? Or hear the A/c unit running beside the postal station behind the bushes?

John
 

So we pay for water use then we pay to treat the water we just paid for at the sewer plant. Then we pay for the irrigation water that we just paid to be treated for at the sewer plant. Not to mention all the water we use does not go back to the sewer plant as there is no meter on the sewer side.

The postal fee is a one time fee on your 1st bill. I believe you may get some of it back if you sell and return your keys. Seems like your amenity fee might be for more than 1 month. Shouldn't be more than about $162. Ours is $158. Water is very expensive here so watch your irrigation use and house water. Our trash fee is only $19 just went up from $17.

Ohiobuckeye
 

I understand that Florida water is more expensive because of the shortage of water but I agree TV is getting more expensive to live their. We move out of TV but not because of the utility bills but because of family. I know what I’ve got to say isn’t going to lower TV utility bills but it could push people out & maybe after Nov. 3rd bills will get higher. We moved to another state & I just got my biggest water bill this past month of $54.24 & I water 5 times the yard I had in TV. Also my amenities are $90.00 a month but I admit we don’t have any thing close to Recreation that TV has. Also we get Cable & High speed Internet for FREE every month, 24/7. I really miss not living in TV, but the way our country is going it’s not going to get cheaper to live anywhere, & eventually people won’t want to live there because the rising expense is going to push a lot of the less fortunate people away from TV. So don’t get discouraged TV I’m sure does their best to keep prices down. God Bless you & America!

I leave mine off entirely during the rainy season. Lawn and shrubs are fine.

Same here. Got my first bill last month totaling $385. Since then I reprogrammed my irrigation schedule and times running for each section. 🙏 and fingers-crossed this next bill is a lot lower.

They do not rekey the box unless the old owner did not turn in the old keys. The old owner then would have to pay for the rekeying and the new owner still pays $190 for the box.

The mail station in my Village is not air conditioned. I feel sorry for those people in there.

I thought they all were from what another poster wrote. Will have to look next time we go there. If no A/C what is the postage fee for?

Your amenity fee is the $165 per month shown. The additional amenity fee covered the time between your closing and the billing date. The water usage, whether for irrigation or potable usage, is based on consumption plus a base charge. The amount of irrigation usage will be affected by the size of your lot and the amount of plants and grass and how often or for how long you run it. You control that! The base charge is a fixed monthly fee. You will also see a base charge on your electric and gas bill.

Ask you sales person or the District Office (352-753-4508 and they will connect you with the department that can explain all the details in your amenity bill. You can find answers to many questions in your Villages Phone Book starting on page 6,

The village you live in has no effect on amenity fee.

It's for having your own post office box in or near your neighborhood, where you can receive mail and packages securely.

As opposed to having a mailbox outside your house that can be knocked over, broken, contents stolen from without needing to break into it, etc. etc.

Granted, we're not *allowed* to take the "risks" involved in having our own mailboxes on our own property, but the question wasn't whether we were allowed. It was why we're paying for something else.

So in other words the new folks like us are paying for the upkeep.

Here is my most recent bill for comparison. Yours will be different next month.

When I bought (previously owned) I paid/billed $100, that was in the paper work/deed restrictions. Then I had to go to the post office to have the mail box re-keyed, I think it was $35, and I got three keys. I don’t know why the OP’s bill was $190, unless that’s the new fee for a mail box, check your deed restrictions (not sure if it’s called deed restrictions/bylaws, name escapes me. Darn sometimers).

That's what I got, two keys.

:coolsmiley::coolsmiley:

I only got 1 key

I think you got cheated. The seller should have been required to purchase a new lock from the Post Office. I would complain to the real estate agent or title company. The only way to legally get another key is to pay the Post Office $30 to install a new lock. This should have been handled at the closing.

Life is good
 

Our first bill was incorrect very high, we called and they corrected it. Suggest you do the same.

Irrigation is slightly different each month. But adjust your sprinklers and also make sure none of your sprinklers are broken. The amenity fee
should only be $165. We just recently bought a house and the irrigation was over $100+, I nearly fell off my chair. My others property in TV is anywhere from 8-10 dollars. This new house is much larger, but still. When we came down to TV last month, the sprinkler was set for 50 minutes 3-4X a week. THAT GOT ADJUSTED!! Also one of the sprinkler heads were broken and when the water was on, it just poured out. Also, always be aware of leaking faucets or toilets. About 3 years ago, I got my bill and the normal $200+ bill was $600. I called my tenant and they said that the toilet was always running and then they went away for a week or two. That's why the water bill was so high. The water company did give me a one time discount. I think they reduced it about $200. That was a lesson learned.

I received a bill for my imitation use for the month of July $262.85. Had my sprinkler guy check the system and he said everything is working with no leaks. I call and they came out and did a meter check. They said the meter is working correctly. Their is no way I used 55,630 gals. But what are you going to too?

I never heard of a PO fee, but your Amenity fee is probably for more than one month, maybe because of the closing date.

Irrigation water is higher then potable (inside house) which is crazy as it is reclaimed. It is why you sometimes see people manually watering there lawns or using oscillating sprinkler. Outside faucets are potable water. Also if you have rain gauge they don’t always work correctly so you have to monitor. Most times the system is set up to over water.

Your irrigation should be about 7500 to 11000 gallons per month, depending on size of your yard. If you have new plants you need to water more often until established. Recommend as a new owner , have an irrigation specialist do a maintenance check and show you the ropes on set up and timers.

The postal station in Bonita does not have A/C. It does have two doors which I imagine is for safety sake in the event of a fire.

Upon further review did not think to look behind the building for a unit as another poster suggested. More research is in order.

Why is the cost for a mail box $190? Is that for one year?

It is for as long as you live in your house.

Why so expensive I have no clue.

Not true. Potable water costs more than irrigation water. You may not be including the per gallon fee for the sewer water, which is based on the same quantity as the potable water gallons used.

The first bill includes a prorated bill for your first month as well as the second month. Ours was similar the first month but has been consistent for the last 10 months.

Some items are balances offset at closing. It appears that the usages are about 2x my normal. My monthly bill is about $238-$250 a month. You can choose to run your sprinkler less especially in the rainy season. I would have the system checked nine is about $12-15 a month in usage. It depends on how often they run and how long and if there is a leak.