Community Development District Fee Calculator
A CDD never shows up in the listing price. It shows up on the county tax bill, every year.
What This Calculator Does
Divides a CDD assessment into its two halves — the debt portion repaying the bonds that built the community's roads, drainage, and utilities, and the operations and maintenance portion that keeps them working — then reports the combined annual and monthly cost and what changes once the bond is retired.
Who Is This For
Buyers looking at newer master-planned communities across South Florida, owners comparing two similar homes where only one carries a district assessment, and anyone whose lender's payment estimate came back higher than the listing implied.
How It Works
Enter the annual debt assessment and the operations and maintenance assessment from the property's tax record, plus any HOA dues. The calculator returns total monthly housing cost and identifies the portion that ends when the bond matures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is a CDD?
A Community Development District is a special-purpose local government formed to finance and maintain the infrastructure of a new community — roads, water and sewer lines, drainage, and common amenities. It issues bonds to build them and assesses the property owners inside the district to repay those bonds.
How does it differ from an HOA?
An HOA is a private association funded by dues billed directly to you, and it enforces community rules. A CDD is a unit of local government, its assessment arrives on the county property tax bill, and it is not optional. Plenty of communities carry both, and the two charges are entirely separate.
Will the assessment ever stop?
The debt portion does, once the bonds behind the infrastructure are repaid. The operations and maintenance portion continues as long as there is infrastructure to maintain. Ask for the district's remaining bond term before assuming the charge is permanent — or that it is about to disappear.
Can the bond be paid off early?
Many districts allow an owner to settle their share of the bond in a lump sum, which strips the debt portion out of future bills. Whether it is worth doing depends on how long you intend to own and on how the payoff compares with the remaining assessments. The district office holds the figures.
How often do CDDs turn up around Miami?
Far more common in newer master-planned developments across South Florida than in the core Miami condo market, where an association performs the same functions privately. Shopping new construction or the western suburbs, expect to meet them.
How can I check whether a property sits in one?
The county tax bill lists it as a separate non-ad valorem line, and Florida sellers must disclose district assessments to buyers. Read the actual tax bill rather than the listing — a CDD can add a meaningful sum to monthly housing cost, and it is easy to miss until closing.