What is a Maintenance assessment?

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Old 05-09-2019, 09:14 PM
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Default What is a Maintenance assessment?

I read in the Villages News that CDD 12 was considering raising the Maintenance assessment in the newer areas for some reason. Is that the same as the Bond? I'm guessing not. I have heard about Bonds and monthly dues but I don't remember this one. What other fees are there when I move to TV? Thanks
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Old 05-10-2019, 12:02 AM
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Bond pays for the streets and utilities. It goes away eventually. Usually 20 years after the house is built. Resale homes have a portion of the bond remaining unless a previous home owner has paid it ofv.

Maintenance bonds are funds used to maintain the roads and utilites. It never goes away. Roads need repairs.
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Old 05-10-2019, 06:39 AM
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Originally Posted by baustgen View Post
Bond pays for the streets and utilities. It goes away eventually. Usually 20 years after the house is built. Resale homes have a portion of the bond remaining unless a previous home owner has paid it ofv.

Maintenance bonds are funds used to maintain the roads and utilites. It never goes away. Roads need repairs.
The maintenance fee is part of your yearly tax bill.it also pays for the flower plantings and other common area maintenance.
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Old 05-10-2019, 06:52 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kpd3062 View Post
I read in the Villages News that CDD 12 was considering raising the Maintenance assessment in the newer areas for some reason. Is that the same as the Bond? I'm guessing not. I have heard about Bonds and monthly dues but I don't remember this one. What other fees are there when I move to TV? Thanks
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.
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Old 05-10-2019, 07:31 AM
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Originally Posted by perrjojo View Post
The maintenance fee is part of your yearly tax bill.it also pays for the flower plantings and other common area maintenance.
The flower planting is a very small portion of the overall expenses of the maintenance budget. The combined PWF and direct CDD expense for the flower planting is less than $3 per year per house.
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Old 05-10-2019, 07:47 AM
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Question Diverting Expenses

There are tricks the Management of the villages use and it is just about hidden from the residents. They allegedly used funds meant only for maintenance to do "non maintenance" spending. Why??Because they have a cap on what they can spend for Amenities while they have no cap on Maintenance as at the end of the year the bill is spread among Residents without a limit.!! As an example allegedly the Park built near the junction of Mores Blvd and 466 was charged as a "Maintenance Expense" and it was not maintenance and therefore not included in the cap spending. Regardless as to whether it was well worth it, etc. The question is whether it was expensed to the correct line item and the books were not allegedly charged incorrectly
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Old 05-10-2019, 08:59 AM
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Bonds are thirty years in district 12. Not 20 as posted above. In the oldest districts it was 20. For the vast majority of all residents it is a thirty year bond
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Old 05-10-2019, 07:15 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by baustgen View Post
Bond pays for the streets and utilities. It goes away eventually. Usually 20 years after the house is built. Resale homes have a portion of the bond remaining unless a previous home owner has paid it ofv.

Maintenance bonds are funds used to maintain the roads and utilites. It never goes away. Roads need repairs.
The county owns the roads and maintains them.
The exception would be villa roads.
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Old 05-10-2019, 09:09 PM
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If you really want to know what the maintenance assessments pay for go the the districtgov.org website and download the current budget workshop agenda for your district and the PWAC budget workshop agenda.

These have a budget line item breakdown of the current recommended budget for next year as well as this year's and last year's numbers. These are not the final budgets and these numbers usually go down before the final approval, they cannot increase above the amounts that will be approved based on these preliminary budgets.

line item 539498 is the Project Wide Fund fee, this is the majority of the budget for most districts. The PWF does the majority of the work and heavy lifting in the areas south of CR466. It provides the continuity between the districts and allows for volume buying of services by combining the 8 CDDs into one large unit. It also spreads the risk so districts south of 466 don't feel the pain like the residents are feeling in CDD4.

I've attached CDD-10 agenda for Monday afternoon's budget workshop meeting for all to look at.

Please attend your District meeting that happen every month and learn how your government works and get the facts and not the myths, fiction, and misinformation many on this and that other website spew forth.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Agenda_2019_5_13_Meeting(1608) (3).pdf (822.8 KB, 303 views)
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Old 05-10-2019, 09:22 PM
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Thank you GoldWingNut for all you do as a representative as well as always setting things straight. You are an asset to the community and it amazes me that people believe you can get something for nothing. All that we love about the Villages costs money to maintain and I am grateful we have people like you to always provide clarity. I think the entirety of the Villages government does a great job of continuing to keep the Villages second to none and the information is available to all who seek it.
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Old 05-11-2019, 05:24 AM
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Question Honest Question

Were, as I understand it PWAC Funds used to build the Park which I described?
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Old 05-11-2019, 06:46 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldwingnut View Post
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.
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Old 05-11-2019, 07:57 AM
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Question OK I Read it

I did not see where my question was actually answered. This explains a lot about where Project wide gets some of it money,
(e.g. excess from prior years, working capital, etc.) however where does it identify if the park was paid for from cap'd amenity fees or from an uncaped PWAC. Some say "so what". The answer is simple. Once you open the door for using funds for one category which is under a different control and or no control you open the door to abuse. That is bad. The long response even says the maintenance fees are to keep things nice and Amenity for "fun things". The last I knew Parks are "Fun Things". If the people who wrote these rules wanted it to be discretionary they would have said so. Because the maintenance category had extra funds does not mean it is OK to charge the residents under that category as opposed to the Amenity Controlled funds. Hopefully I am wrong in the financial accountability of the Park. That would be great, however I have not seen anything that says I'm wrong even with a rereading of a prior note. The broader concern is if, and just if I am right how many other expenses are or were being charged in the Maintenance category? Another follow on question is what are the "Reserve Funds" level, how are they established, who monitors them what are the controls and are they fully funded? AAH, how problematic are finances?

Last edited by PennBF; 05-11-2019 at 08:03 AM.
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Old 05-11-2019, 09:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PennBF View Post
I did not see where my question was actually answered. This explains a lot about where Project wide gets some of it money,
(e.g. excess from prior years, working capital, etc.) however where does it identify if the park was paid for from cap'd amenity fees or from an uncaped PWAC. Some say "so what". The answer is simple. Once you open the door for using funds for one category which is under a different control and or no control you open the door to abuse. That is bad. The long response even says the maintenance fees are to keep things nice and Amenity for "fun things". The last I knew Parks are "Fun Things". If the people who wrote these rules wanted it to be discretionary they would have said so. Because the maintenance category had extra funds does not mean it is OK to charge the residents under that category as opposed to the Amenity Controlled funds. Hopefully I am wrong in the financial accountability of the Park. That would be great, however I have not seen anything that says I'm wrong even with a rereading of a prior note. The broader concern is if, and just if I am right how many other expenses are or were being charged in the Maintenance category? Another follow on question is what are the "Reserve Funds" level, how are they established, who monitors them what are the controls and are they fully funded? AAH, how problematic are finances?
I think you should go to the next PWAC meeting and ask.
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Old 05-11-2019, 10:33 AM
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I've been on the CDD-10 board and the PWAC for the last 5 years and I have yet to see anything either inappropriate or even questionable in the spending of the funds under the various budgets. It is very easy to make allegations, but without any proof or evidence you're just blowing hot air and trying to raise controversy where none exist. Please provide your proof.

The State of Florida requires a financial audit be conducted every year by an independent auditor. I read these reports in their entirety EVERY YEAR for the CDD10, PWF, and amenities budgets, nothing in the last 5 years has shown anything inappropriate occurring. I know the naysayers and developer haters here and on that other website will say the auditors are in the developers pocket or some other idiotic remark along those lines. Really? Do you think they're going to risk their company's reputation over a handful of contracts that barely make a blip on their balance sheet (a CDD# audit is about $10K)? Not hardly. You should get to know the people working for you in your government, they're not like the career politicians in Washington, they actually live here and care about what they do and what happens.

Reserve Funds are funded by the annual budget, just like may put some money away every payday into their savings accounts, the CDDs do the same in funding code 581911 "Transfer to General R&R". These reserves are being built up by annually to cover future expenses such as reroofing buildings, repairs to retention systems, etc. as all things have a limited useful lifespan and will have to be repaired or replaced. Unlike may municipalities our CDDs don't need to borrow money or issue bonds to fund their maintenance and replacement programs. This is a result of both conservative financial management and the fact that the CDDs do not continue to grow like other municipalities, our size is fixed.

The bottom line is that our local government (CDD, PWF, etc.) financials here in The Villages are both well maintained and in very good shape, few government bodies are in as good a shape. But don't believe me, take the time to learn about our budgets, the processes in place, and read the audits. Don't just believe the garbage that you read on some of the local websites with the rantings of the uneducated.

Concerning this "park" that PennBF seems to find issue with, I'm assuming it is the small park that is next to Hacienda At Mission Hills. This is land that is owned by the SLCDD, and was not a part of the property transfer that happened in 2016 when SLCDD purchased the amenities. From this one can assume that it is not considered an amenity and that the improvements were funded by and are maintained by SLCDD. There are many other properties throughout The Villages that are owned by the individual CDDs that have improvements for the benefit of the residents that are not considered amenities. These would also be maintained by the parent CDD or the PWF depending on the property, its location, and if included in the Project Wide agreement. None this is neither inappropriate or misrepresented anywhere.

This "park" has been in existence for a while and predates my tenure on the CDD and PWAC so I can't say with surety or confidence when, how, or why it came about. Not every single parcel of property is broken out in the budgets as there are many hundreds of them to maintain and unless there is a current issue there it would not be specifically identified and therefore not broken out in the budget. If you want to know for sure you can come to your CDD or the PWAC meeting and ask the questions and we can get the answers, or you can request the information from the District Clerk under the Florida Sunshine Act.

Much has been made in the last few years about the growth of the Project Wide Fund, unfortunately most of the reporting has been selective and deceptive journalism (I find that a difficult word to use to describe what some websites and newspapers put out). Last year the PWF saw a huge increase (about $1 million) that was negatively reported in that it neglected to inform the readers that the principal component of that growth was the increase in scope due to the addition of properties in CDD-12. What was not covered was that these increases were fully funded by CDD-12's PWF contributions. A net zero increase to the other CDDs. There was additional growth in the budgets due to increased costs for labor, material, and subcontracted work. These government budgets, just like our own personal budgets, are not immune to the realities of inflation, current events, and the economy. Bottom line is that the Maintenance budget is neither uncontrolled nor a shell for dumping other costs to. Since I started serving on the CDD-10 board in November 2014 the Maintenance assessment has decreased about 3% even though our cost have continued to rise.

The budgets and the administration of The Villages are both complicated and intertwined. Everyone should take the time to learn and understand how it all works.

PennBF, CDDs 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 have budget workshop meetings on Monday at the District Office Board Room at 984 Old Mill Run, can we expect to see you at one of these meetings?

Just for reference, on 6 May at 8:30 AM the PWAC held a budget workshop at the District Office and went over the budgets for the PWF, Amenities, and Fitness Centers. One would have thought with all the uproar over the Deferral Rate in the last few months there would have been substantial input from the public on these budgets. The total number of public comments and input for all three budges was, once again, ZERO!
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