The Line on Every Old Palm Tax Bill, and Why Part of It Has an End Date
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
Every home in Old Palm sits inside the Old Palm Community Development District, a local special district that adds its own non-ad valorem assessment to the Palm Beach County property tax bill. For the fiscal year that began October 1, 2026, the Old Palm CDD's adopted FY2027 budget lists that assessment as ranging from $3,742.87 for a Golf Cottage to $7,976.51 for a One Acre Estate with reuse water. The assessment is separate from HOA dues and separate from club membership. It is also really two charges added together, and they behave very differently. One part just went up for every household. The other part, which is usually the bigger one, has not moved in years and is scheduled to stop.
The Palm Beach County Tax Collector mails bills by November 1, so the first FY2027 amounts will reach owners in about four weeks.
The district's adopted FY2027 budget splits each lot's assessment into an annual maintenance amount and an annual debt amount. Here is the full schedule for the 316 residential units:
| Neighborhood | Units | Maintenance FY2027 | Debt FY2027 | Total FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golf Cottages | 8 | $2,383.40 | $1,359.47 | $3,742.87 |
| Villa | 110 | $2,383.40 | $1,510.68 | $3,894.08 |
| Sable Palms Parcel A | 31 | $2,383.40 | $1,529.96 | $3,913.36 |
| Grand Estates | 87 | $2,383.40 | $2,718.94 | $5,102.34 |
| One Acre Estates | 11 | $2,383.40 | $3,020.65 | $5,404.05 |
| One Acre Estates w/Reuse | 69 | $3,940.40 | $4,036.11 | $7,976.51 |
Most of the spread comes from the debt column. A Villa and a One Acre Estate without reuse water pay the same $2,383.40 for maintenance. Their totals differ by $1,509.97, and all of that gap is debt. The One Acre Estates with reuse carry a higher maintenance figure as well. The budget includes a separate Reclaim Water section, with a $51,000 annual reservation fee and water purchased from Seacoast under agreement, which lines up with that row's label.
The debt amounts repay the district's Series 2019 Special Assessment Refunding Bonds. The original principal was $10,720,000 at a 2.5% coupon, and the amortization schedule ends with a final $805,000 principal payment on May 1, 2035. After the May 2026 payment, $6,555,000 was outstanding. The FY2027 budget plans $655,000 in principal on May 1, 2027, plus $81,938 in interest on each of the November and May payment dates.
Annual debt service on the schedule holds close to $811,000 to $815,000 a year through the end. That level structure explains why the per-unit debt amounts were the same in FY2025, FY2026 and FY2027. The districtwide on-roll debt assessment is budgeted at $815,063 in both FY2026 and FY2027.
Assume the per-unit debt amounts stay flat and the debt is levied for each tax year from FY2027 through FY2035, which contains the final payment. That gives nine annual installments. On that assumption, the remaining debt portion works out roughly as follows:
These totals are simple arithmetic, not payoff quotes. The district's 2025 audit report says property owners may prepay some or all of the debt service assessments on their property, "subject to various provisions in the Bond documents." The audit does not spell out those provisions, so ask the district for a parcel-specific payoff figure before relying on any number. The district's agenda page says prior-year records are available through a public-records request.
When you compare two Old Palm homes, the debt line is a cost with a known end. A Grand Estate and a Villa differ by $1,208.26 a year in debt assessment today. That difference is set to disappear once the bonds are retired, provided the district adds no new debt.
The maintenance column follows the district's actual workload. In FY2026 it held at $2,094.30 for most lots, unchanged from FY2025. For FY2027 it rose $289.10 per unit for every lot type, to $2,383.40 for most homes and $3,940.40 for One Acre Estates with reuse. Districtwide, on-roll general fund assessments went from $748,670 to $838,077. The board held the budget hearing on April 23, 2026, and considered Resolution 2026-03 to adopt the budget and Resolution 2026-04 to levy the assessments.
The budget lines show where the money goes. The district contracts LSB Golf Consultants for field management, BrightView Landscape Management for common-area landscaping, Solitude Lake Management for the CDD's 15 lakes and 78 acres of preserve, Hawkins, Inc. for chemicals, and Shane Pennock Jackson & Co. for stormwater drainage and underwater repairs. Several administrative lines rise in FY2027. Engineering goes from $35,000 to $50,000, legal from $50,000 to $60,000, and the assistant to the field manager from $29,293 to $54,080.
Drainage has been a priority for some time. A budget amendment effective November 20, 2025, raised the FY2025 drainage maintenance line from $20,000 to $157,981 and irrigation repairs from $16,632 to $78,710. Those were budget allocations. The amendment does not show that all of that work was completed. FY2027 budgets $120,000 for stormwater drainage maintenance.
The maintenance increase would likely be larger without one unusual revenue source. The budget narrative says the district "received special funding due to a transaction with the FDOT," and that the board has assigned improvement tasks from it, starting with drainage inspections, repairs and restoration. FY2027 budgets $1,471,220 in Special Task Funding on the revenue side and $1,324,280 in Special Tasks spending. The district's published documents do not say what the transaction was, how much it was worth, or when the money arrived. The FDOT project for a new I-95 interchange at Central Boulevard does require right-of-way along both roads. That project is listed at $113.3 million, with start and completion dates both shown as "TBD." No source we found connects the two.
This funding is a reserve that the board spends down. It is not a recurring assessment. The FY2026 budget listed $2,557,417 in Special Task Funding, and $308,416 had been recorded as of April 30, 2026. If you are buying in Old Palm, ask how much of that funding is left and what drainage work is still planned, because the answer affects the maintenance column in later years.
One smaller change also shows up in the figures. Median landscaping, median tree work and median irrigation are budgeted at zero for FY2027. The narrative describes median landscaping as "in the process of transferring" to the city. The documents do not confirm that the transfer is complete.
Florida law requires specific CDD language in initial sale contracts for parcels inside a district. Under Section 190.048, it must appear immediately before the buyer's signature, in bold 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.
The phrase "set annually" applies to the maintenance column. The debt column follows the bond schedule.
Because the assessment is collected with the property tax bill, it gets the county's early-payment discounts: 4% in November, 3% in December, 2% in January, 1% in February, and none in March. The gross amount is due March 31. For a One Acre Estate with reuse, a 4% discount on the $7,976.51 CDD portion comes to about $319. The Tax Collector's site has the official dates and payment options.
No. The CDD assessment is a separate line on the county tax bill. HOA dues and club equity or dues are additional costs, so ask about each one when you compare homes.
The district lists regular FY2027 meetings on the third Thursday of the month at 9 a.m. at the Old Palm HOA Building. The next listed meeting is October 15, 2026, subject to change.
Yes. The adopted FY2027 budget, with the assessment schedule and bond amortization table, is posted on the Old Palm CDD website.
No. This post describes public budget documents. For anything that depends on your own situation, talk to a tax or financial professional.
If you are weighing a Grand Estate against a Villa, or a reuse lot against one without reuse, the CDD line should be part of that comparison along with the asking price. Jeanne Gordon can walk you through the assessment, the HOA and the club costs for any Old Palm home you are considering, and if you already own here, request your home valuation to see how those costs factor into its value.
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