Avalon Park West Homeowners Face Hundreds More in CDD Fees This Fall

Homeowners in Avalon Park West are about to pay a lot more for community upkeep. The Woodcreek Community Development District has proposed a fiscal year 2027 budget that would raise assessments for every lot type in the neighborhood, with increases ranging from roughly $122 to $473 a year depending on home type. The district's board takes up the budget at its Sept. 25 meeting, just days before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

The number driving the increase is stark: the district's proposed general fund spending is $365,411, more than triple the $106,661 approved for the current year. Most of that jump comes from field operations costs that have never before appeared in the district's general fund, including $198,468 for landscape maintenance and pond mowing, $26,719 for lake and stormwater management, and $9,000 for a field manager position.

Those figures cover total annual assessments, not just the increase itself, and every lot type in the community faces a higher bill under the proposal. For a household on a 60-foot lot, the jump works out to nearly $40 more a month.

Why the sudden jump

Woodcreek's general fund has historically not carried field operations expenses at all. Folding landscape maintenance, pond mowing and lake management into that fund for the first time is what pushes the budget from six figures into the mid-six-figure range. The board is also weighing a rate increase from Access Management for field operations and an amendment to the district's lake management contract with Solitude Lake Management, either of which could push future costs higher still.

At last year's budget hearing, held Sept. 26, 2025, no residents showed up to speak before the board unanimously adopted the FY2026 budget. The district's most recent financial audit came back with an unmodified opinion and no findings, meaning auditors flagged no problems with how the district has managed its books.

How to weigh in

The district's board meets Sept. 25 and again Oct. 12, both at 10 a.m. at the Avalon Park West Amenity Center, 5060 River Glen Blvd. Residents who cannot attend in person have historically been able to call into these meetings using a conference line listed on the district's meeting agendas.

The five-member Woodcreek board currently has one open seat. Supervisors serving include Christian Cotter, Mary Moulton, Woody Hughes and Brandy Kelly, with one seat vacant. District manager Cindy Cerbone, of the Boca Raton-based firm Wrathell, Hunt and Associates, oversees the district's day-to-day operations remotely and has fielded resident questions in the past ahead of budget votes.

The board has not said whether it will trim any of the proposed field operations costs before final adoption, or whether the Access Management rate increase and the Solitude Lake Management contract amendment will be approved as presented. Those decisions, along with a final vote on the FY2027 budget, are expected at the Sept. 25 meeting, with the new rates taking effect for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

For more on how this and other decisions affect the community, visit the Wesley Chapel Community Website, follow along on Facebook and Instagram, or catch updates on X. Share your thoughts on the proposed assessment hikes in our Community Forum, and check out more local government coverage and Wesley Chapel news as this story develops.