Utilities and other fees in St.Johns county

[tim789]

I’m trying to understand what kind of fees there are for a single family home in HOA community in St. Johns county.

I know that CDD fees are paid together with property taxes.
Property tax bill also includes “disposal”, “collection” and “recycling” line items.
Does that mean that homeowner does not pay separately any utilities, such as usage based water (other than electricity/gas)?

[Florida2014]

Water bills (as all utilities) are separate, as a homeowner you'll be responsible for the water in your home and the "reclaimed" water used for irrigation, which can be extremely costly so use that sparingly. Depending on where you live you'll likely either be with JEA (with a combined water/electric bill) or FPL where the water/electric are separated.

[NextExit40Miles]

I'm in SJ County, just south of 210. My water billing is https://www.sjcfl.us/water-sewer-service/

My electric is with FPL, and gas is TECO. https://www.tecoenergy.com/



Here's some contact info for water services...

For Customer Service please contact us at:

St. Johns County, FL - Utilities
Email:
utilbill@sjcfl.us


Phone:
(904) 209-2700

[tim789]

Thanks. I assume those line items (disposal, collection and recycling) in the property tax bill are for the common area.

In California (big house) my water/recycling/disposal utility bill was around $160/month (house had garden, big pool).

Is it similar in St. Johns?

[Ivan Putski]

Originally Posted by tim789

Thanks. I assume those line items (disposal, collection and recycling) in the property tax bill are for the common area.

In California (big house) my water/recycling/disposal utility bill was around $160/month (house had garden, big pool).

Is it similar in St. Johns?

We live in a ~3,000 SQFT SFH in a HOA in Ponte Vedra Beach (PVB) and those line items in my annual property tax bill (disposal $60, collection $125 and recycling $60) are what I pay for my house, NOT for the common HOA areas. No CDDs for us (I don't know of a HOA in PVB that has CDDs; Nocatee and elsewhere over the ditch is a different story - ie. plenty of CDDs).

We have Beaches Energy for electric (average $200/mth) and St. Johns County Utility for water (avg $80/mth, gets up to $140/mth when I have sprinkler on).

[Florida2014]

Originally Posted by tim789

Thanks. I assume those line items (disposal, collection and recycling) in the property tax bill are for the common area.

In California (big house) my water/recycling/disposal utility bill was around $160/month (house had garden, big pool).

Is it similar in St. Johns?

I would budget for double that (minimum). You will also need a bug service for the interior and exterior of your home. And don't forget the ever increasing home insurance and auto insurance here, which is like 50% more for us after about 10 years here.

[blueskies2023]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

I would budget for double that (minimum). You will also need a bug service for the interior and exterior of your home. And don't forget the ever increasing home insurance and auto insurance here, which is like 50% more for us after about 10 years here.

Yes, in fact home insurance has gone up MORE than 50% for many here. Auto insurance higher, not yet 50%. We wait for that as was told it is about to be.

[Ivan Putski]

Home insurance has gone up by 150% since 2015 and we actively shop every year using an agent. Car insurance is up 100%+ in the past 10 years (no points/violations in over 15+ years - just me and my wife). Thankfully our property tax has remained the same since the day we bought back in 2015.

Sum $ of all of that (home insurance, car insurance + property tax) is still $3k less than what we were paying for property taxes alone on our house in northern NJ so definitely not complaining.