A 50-foot single-family lot in Solterra Resort carries an FY2026/27 Community Development District charge of $4,434.57 in Assessment Area 2. A 50-foot lot in Stoneybrook South at ChampionsGate carries a $685.90 FY2027 general-fund assessment, which covers the district's administration and maintenance, plus $1,406 in debt service if it sits in the Series 2017 assessment area. That comes to about $2,092 a year, less than half of Solterra's figure.
Read alone, that gap makes Stoneybrook South look like the cheaper community to own in. But a CDD assessment covers only the services a community assigned to its district. In Solterra, the district runs the resort amenities. In Stoneybrook South, the district's budget pays for streetlights, water and landscaping, and the resort clubhouse is paid for somewhere else. You can only compare the two communities once you know where each one put its amenity costs.
Two Districts With Very Different Jobs
Both districts bill through the county property tax bill. Solterra is in Polk County. Stoneybrook South is in Osceola County. Their adopted budgets show how differently the work is split.
| Solterra Resort CDD | Stoneybrook South at ChampionsGate CDD | |
|---|---|---|
| Budget year | FY2026/27 | FY2027 |
| Operating budget | $3,394,885 O&M budget | $1,062,107 general fund, including $888,840 in operations and maintenance |
| Per-unit operating assessment | $3,133.57 O&M; $2,494.59 in Solterra Springs | $342.96 condo to $1,097.44 for an 80-foot lot, general fund |
| Largest operating lines | Amenity staff $516,450; clubhouse maintenance and repair $331,654; lifeguards and pool monitors $200,680 | Landscape maintenance $284,806; reclaimed water $202,182; streetlights $198,918 |
| Change from prior year | None | None |
Both budgets were adopted for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2026, and neither district raised its per-unit charges this year. The two numbers can't be compared because they pay for different things.
What Solterra's $3,133.57 Pays For
The Solterra Resort CDD budget runs much like a resort's operating budget. It includes $75,450 for clubhouse facility maintenance, $40,395 for clubhouse restaurant operations, $111,960 for a pool service contract, and $51,000 to repair and maintain the pool and lazy river.
A responsibilities breakdown from the Solterra Resort Community Association shows the same split. It assigns the following to the CDD:
- Front gate and gatehouse management, including gate parking passes
- Management of the amenity center: the pool, slide, lazy river, gym, spa infrastructure, pool monitors, lifestyle activities and reservations
- The infrastructure for Solterra Eats, the resort bar and grill, plus its service and management, which the CDD handles through Evergreen
The same document leaves the Solterra Springs private gate, residential internet and Wi-Fi through Spectrum, the Solterra Boulevard trash compactor and valet trash with the HOA. The district's own FAQ describes the pool and clubhouse as publicly owned amenity elements that the CDD operates and maintains.
So most of Solterra's $3,133.57 is the cost of running the amenity center, and it is billed through the tax bill. Owners of a 50-foot lot in Assessment Area 2 pay $1,301.00 in Series 2014 debt service on top of that. A townhome in Assessment Area 1 pays $563.69 in Series 2023 debt, for a total of $3,697.26.
Where Stoneybrook South's Clubhouse Shows Up
Stoneybrook South has a resort-style amenity of its own. The Oasis Club describes a clubhouse with a restaurant, fitness center, meeting rooms, a theater and an arcade for registered residents and their guests. None of it appears in the district's FY2027 operations budget. That budget's line items cover field services, electricity, streetlights, reclaimed water, landscaping, irrigation, pond care, sidewalks and similar infrastructure. Its security line is $1,348. District minutes from early 2026 deal with stormwater pond tracts near the golf course, not the clubhouse.
A club with a restaurant and a theater still has operating costs. Because they aren't in the CDD budget, they are paid through some other charge. For a buyer comparing these two communities, the CDD figures are only half of the comparison. The useful number is the CDD assessment plus the HOA or club charges for the specific home, compared against Solterra's CDD total plus the HOA charges that cover what Solterra's district doesn't. That includes the internet and trash services the HOA handles there.
The Debt Has an End Date and the O&M Doesn't
A CDD assessment has two parts, and they work differently over time.
Debt service repays the bonds that paid for the community's roads, utilities and other infrastructure. It follows a fixed amortization schedule. Stoneybrook South's FY2027 budget prints a schedule for each of its four bond series:
| Bond series | Gross per-unit debt, FY2027 | Final principal payment |
|---|---|---|
| Series 2017 | $1,406 to $1,719, single-family only | December 15, 2047 |
| Series 2019 | $989 condo to $1,719 for an 80-foot lot | June 15, 2049 |
| Series 2020, Fox South area | $989 condo to $1,719 for an 80-foot lot | December 15, 2050 |
| Series 2023 | $702 townhome to $1,404 for a 50-foot lot | June 15, 2053 |
On the Series 2017 bonds, $3,995,000 remains outstanding going into the December 15, 2026 payment. Annual principal payments rise from $110,000 to a final $285,000. The debt line on these parcels stays on the tax bill for decades. It is also fixed by schedule, so it won't rise with inflation.
Operations and maintenance works differently. The disclosure that Florida Statute 190.048 requires in initial sale contracts says the district's taxes and assessments "ARE SET ANNUALLY BY THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE DISTRICT." This is why the structure matters more than this year's figure. When a district runs a clubhouse, a lazy river, lifeguards and a grill, all of those costs go into the O&M line. The board sets that line each year, and it has no payoff date. When a district mostly pays for streetlights and landscaping, its O&M line has fewer things in it that can grow.
One ChampionsGate Address, Two Possible Districts
The name on a listing doesn't tell you which district a home belongs to. ChampionsGate CDD and Stoneybrook South at ChampionsGate CDD are separate districts in Osceola County. Each has its own board and its own budget. The ChampionsGate CDD FY2027 adopted budget raises $729,046 in general-fund special assessments through the tax bill. Stoneybrook South spreads its general-fund assessment across 1,983 platted units.
The details go down to the parcel. Solterra is divided into Assessment Areas 1, 2 and 3 plus Solterra Springs, and each is tied to a different bond series. A 50-foot lot can carry $1,024.88, $1,301.00, $1,355.55 or $1,124.21 in debt, depending on where it sits. In Stoneybrook South, the per-unit figures for each bond series apply only to the parcels in that series' assessment area, so they shouldn't be added together.
State law makes this information public. Florida Statute 190.009 requires a district to make its public financing and maintenance information available to residents and prospective residents and to file those documents in the county property records. For a specific home, the most useful document is the current-year assessment schedule from the district's website, read alongside that parcel's most recent tax bill.
Quick Answers
Is a lower CDD assessment a sign of a cheaper community? Not by itself. In Solterra, the district funds the amenity center and gatehouse. Stoneybrook South's district budget covers infrastructure, and the Oasis Club is outside it.
Did either district raise its rates this year? No. Solterra's FY2026/27 per-unit charges and Stoneybrook South's FY2027 per-unit general-fund charges are the same as last year's.
Why do the totals on a tax bill look slightly different from the budget? Solterra's schedule adds Polk County's 3% collection cost and 4% early-payment discount on top of its net budget. Stoneybrook South's gross figures include a 6% collection cost.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please confirm the assessments and obligations on any specific property with the district, your attorney or your tax professional.
If you're weighing a home in Solterra, Stoneybrook South or another resort community near ChampionsGate, Core4 Group can help you collect the district schedule, the tax bill and the HOA documents for each property you're considering, so you can compare full carrying costs. Book a Consultation and we'll do it with you.
