RiverTown fees: two bills, one honest picture.
RiverTown’s riverfront amenity life was bond-financed — which means owning here involves a CDD line on the tax bill AND village HOA dues, and listings rarely present the two together. Here’s the whole picture: how the CDD works, and the live HOA numbers village by village, including WaterSong.
By Krista Fracke — Broker Associate, Christie's International Real Estate First Coast · 20+ years in Northeast Florida · 500+ closings · client reviews
The CDD half: on your tax bill, not your HOA
The RiverTown CDD financed the infrastructure and the riverfront amenity campuses the community is known for, and residents repay it through an annual assessment on the county property-tax bill — never inside HOA dues. Like every CDD it has a debt portion (which amortizes, and can already be paid down on a specific home) and an operations-and-maintenance portion (which continues). Two identical floor plans on one street can carry different CDD lines; the county record shows the truth per home, and I pull it for every RiverTown home my buyers consider. The county CDD map has the full mechanism →
The HOA half: live medians by village
Computed from active listings reporting an association fee (villages with 3+ reporting listings; all cadences normalized to monthly). Associations set and change their own fees — the HOA documents govern.
| Village | Median HOA / mo | Listings reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Rivertown - The Meadows | $4 | 25 |
| Rivertown Forest | $4 | 7 |
| Highpointe At Rivertown | $4 | 7 |
| Rivertown | $4 | 23 |
| Rivertown Springs | $4 | 6 |
| Arbors At Rivertown | $5 | 7 |
| Rivertown Garden District North | $5 | 3 |
| Watersong At Rivertown | $211 | 16 |
| Rivertown Shores | $263 | 9 |
Live from the MLS · refreshed daily.
The part nobody tells you
A RiverTown listing’s advertised “taxes” usually already contains the seller’s CDD line — at the seller’s assessed value, which resets when you buy. So the two numbers most buyers budget from (the tax figure and the HOA figure) are both wrong in different directions until someone rebuilds them at your purchase price. That is exactly what this site’s true-monthly-cost math does on every listing — and what I put in front of you before you offer.
This is the work I do every week. Looking at RiverTown? I’ll pull the CDD line, its bond-payoff status, and the village HOA for any home — the all-in number, before you offer.
Work with Krista (904) 333-8595 Text
Broker Associate · Christie's International Real Estate First Coast · 20+ years · 500+ closings
Common questions
Does RiverTown have CDD fees?
Yes — the RiverTown Community Development District financed the community’s riverfront amenity campuses, and the assessment appears as its own non-ad-valorem line on your St. Johns County tax bill, separate from HOA dues. Like every CDD, the amount varies by village, by lot, and by the individual home (the bond portion can already be partially or fully paid down), so the county record — not a rule of thumb — shows the real number for a specific address.
What are WaterSong at RiverTown HOA fees?
WaterSong is RiverTown’s gated 55+ village, and its HOA runs higher than the family villages because it carries more — its own amenity center and a lawn-maintenance-included lifestyle. The live table above shows the current median from active WaterSong listings. Remember it stacks with the CDD line, and age-restricted living here is defined by the community’s occupancy policy, which I confirm from the governing documents.
What do RiverTown’s CDD and HOA each pay for?
Roughly: the CDD carries the big shared infrastructure — the riverfront clubs, pools, and trails network the community is famous for — while each village HOA carries its own village’s upkeep (and in some villages, services like lawn care). That is why two RiverTown addresses can carry similar CDD lines but very different HOA dues.
How does RiverTown compare with SilverLeaf on fees?
They are the county’s two volume giants and they fund themselves in opposite ways: RiverTown bond-financed a riverfront amenity network (CDD + HOA), SilverLeaf built without a CDD and runs on HOA alone. Neither is automatically cheaper — the honest comparison is total monthly cost on the specific homes, which every listing on this site computes. The head-to-head page walks the whole trade.
RiverTown homes for sale →
Every village, live from the MLS.
WaterSong at RiverTown 55+ →
The gated active-adult village with its own amenity world.
RiverTown vs SilverLeaf →
CDD-funded riverfront vs the no-CDD model — the honest trade.
SilverLeaf fees: the no-CDD math →
The other giant’s fee story, told the same honest way.
Want the real number for a specific home?
Tell me the address — I’ll pull the actual CDD line, its bond-payoff status, the village HOA schedule, and the tax reset at your price, and hand you one honest monthly number.