Why Avenir's Annual CDD Bill Depends on Which Neighborhood Gate You Drive Through

Palm Beach County property tax bills are on their way to western Palm Beach Gardens. The Tax Collector mails them by November 1 and takes payment from November 1 to March 31, with a 4% discount for paying in November. For an Avenir homeowner, one of the larger figures on that bill isn't based on the home's value. It sits in the non-ad valorem section under the Avenir Community Development District, which collects through the Tax Collector and charges for two things: operations and maintenance, and annual principal and interest on the bonds that built the community's infrastructure.

Two Avenir homes at the same price can carry very different CDD lines. The amount is set by which parcel a lot sits in, how wide the lot is, and which bond series was issued for that parcel. That figure can also be rewritten years after the house is finished. In Longview, the district's projected gross assessment goes from $4,313.14 in FY2025/26 to $7,051.69 in FY2026/27.

Every Lot Pays the Same First Number

The district's final FY2026/2027 budget covers October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. It budgets $6,650,878 for operations and maintenance and spreads it evenly across 4,675 assessable units, which comes to $1,422.69 per unit. Watermark, Panther National, the golf course and the charter school parcel all start from that same figure. The posted figures are gross amounts. They include the 4% early-payment discount and the 1% fees charged by the County Tax Collector and the County Property Appraiser.

That shared figure has moved. The O&M assessment was $843.90 in FY2023/24, $1,085.45 in FY2024/25 and $1,468.14 in FY2025/26, then eased to $1,422.69 for the current year. Over three budget cycles, that is an increase of roughly 69 percent.

The parcels in the first phase carry a second shared charge. Clubhouse operations add $1,431.20 per unit, split across 1,174 clubhouse units. The budget exempts Parcel A-5, the economic development parcel, the Town Center and all of Phase 3, saying those parcels receive no special benefit.

The Debt Line Is Where Neighborhoods Diverge

After those shared charges, every parcel gets its own debt figure. The district's assessment comparison tables for FY2026/27 show the spread:

Watermark and Coral Isles include the clubhouse operations charge in their totals, and Essex does too. Regency, as Parcel A-5, does not. That's why a 50-foot Regency lot and a 50-foot Apex lot in Phase 3 land within a dollar of each other, while first-phase neighborhoods with clubhouse charges sit about $2,000 higher. Lot width matters as well. Esprit's three lot sizes run $4,879.69, $5,571.69 and $6,608.69.

The Panther National parcels carry the heaviest residential debt load in the district. According to Avenir's news page, which summarizes a July 21, 2026 South Florida Business Journal report and a July 23 announcement, Ohana Real Estate Investors bought the Panther National golf course for $191.2 million. The course parcel itself is assessed differently, at $295 of debt per acre plus O&M.

The Line That Changes After Closing

A table like the one above is easy to file away as a fixed cost. The four-year comparison in the same budget shows how much the debt line can move, and in which direction.

1. Longview paid $2,845.00 in 2021-series debt for three straight years. For FY2026/27, that line becomes $3,521.58, and a new 2026-series line of $2,107.42 appears beside it. Together they take the parcel's projected gross total from $4,313.14 to $7,051.69.
2. Stonegate's old 2018-series line dropped from $3,176.00 to $776.52, while a 2025-series line of $3,709.82 was added. The parcel's total rose from $4,644.14 to $5,909.03.
3. Lake Ridge absorbed its change a year earlier. The 2021 A-2 line fell from $3,176.00 to $1,279.03 in FY2025/26, a 2025 line of $2,575.75 was added, and the total went from $4,261.45 to $5,322.92.
4. Esprit moved the other way. Its 50-foot debt line fell from $5,670.00 in FY2023/24 to $3,457.00 the following year and has stayed there since.

The state audit of the district explains how the debt line can fall. For debt service assessments, money collected as advance payments goes toward prepaying part of the outstanding bonds. After the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, the district made prepayments across eight bond series and paid off the Series 2020 and Series 2024B bonds in full.

The same audit explains how the line can rise. The newest series carry fixed rates of 7.5% on the 2025 bonds, 7% on the 2026A bonds, 7.25% on the 2026B bonds, and 9.25% on the taxable B tranches, which mature in 2040. The budget's bond schedules run the longest maturities to May 2056.

For a resale buyer, last year's tax bill is a starting point and can understate what the next one will be. In Longview, a buyer who budgeted from the FY2025/26 bill would come in about $2,700 a year below the projected FY2026/27 figure.

What the Contract Language Covers

Florida's statute on CDD disclosure is specific about when it applies. Section 190.048, Florida Statutes requires this language in each contract for the initial sale of a parcel or residential unit inside a district. It must appear immediately before the purchaser's signature, in boldfaced type larger than the rest of the contract:

"THE (Name of District) COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT MAY IMPOSE AND LEVY TAXES OR ASSESSMENTS, OR BOTH TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS, ON THIS PROPERTY. THESE TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS PAY THE CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION, AND MAINTENANCE COSTS OF CERTAIN PUBLIC FACILITIES AND SERVICES OF THE DISTRICT AND ARE SET ANNUALLY BY THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE DISTRICT. THESE TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS ARE IN ADDITION TO COUNTY AND OTHER LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS AND ALL OTHER TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS PROVIDED FOR BY LAW."

The disclosure says what a CDD may levy and that the board sets the amounts annually. It gives no dollar figure, and the section is written around initial sales. Avenir's district site has a payoff and assessment information request, routed through SDS, for anyone who needs current debt and assessment figures on a particular property.

The board that sets those amounts has five members, elected by qualified electors who live in the district. Under City Ordinance 17, 2017, the district dates to January 5, 2017. According to the district's contact page, the terms of two supervisors, Rosa Schechter and Daniel Lopez, expire in November 2026.

How a Mature Palm Beach Gardens District Compares

Old Palm, another Palm Beach Gardens CDD, shows what the debt line looks like once a community's bonds are already in place. Its adopted FY2027 schedule puts annual totals at $3,742.87 for Golf Cottages, $3,894.08 for Villas, $5,102.34 for Grand Estates and $7,976.51 for One Acre Estates with reuse.

Every Old Palm neighborhood saw the same change this year. Maintenance rose $289.10 and debt was unchanged. At Old Palm, then, the year-to-year question is mostly about maintenance. At Avenir, where the district is still issuing series for new parcels, it is also about debt. Avenir's own financing shows how active that is. The Town Center carries a 2023 Town Center bond line of $1,210,565 a year. The FY2025 audit also notes about $29 million in open construction contracts as of September 30, 2025.

Questions That Come Up at the Offer Stage

Does the CDD charge show up in the HOA estimate? No. The Avenir district collects through the Palm Beach County Tax Collector, and the charge appears in the non-ad valorem section of the property tax bill. The Property Appraiser describes non-ad valorem assessments as charges not based on property value, including charges that finance infrastructure.

When is a property's assessment set? According to the district's audit, assessments are levied each November 1 on property of record as of the previous January.

Are two lots in the same neighborhood always assessed the same? Not necessarily. Lot width changes the figure in Regency, Apex, L'Amiance, Esprit and Panther National, and the budget publishes each width separately.

This post is general information about published district budgets and state law. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, so please confirm the figures for a specific property with your attorney, tax advisor or lender.

If you're weighing homes in Avenir, or pricing one to sell, The Costello-Deitz Group can go through the district's assessment schedule parcel by parcel with you before an offer is written. Contact us for a private consultation.