Any insight on my terribly high water bill?

With the main ON, turn everything else off inside and make sure nothing is running...THEN the dial should be still. If it is not then SOMETHING is leaking, or running, etc. You should not hear water running. If I had to guess I would say your sprinkler valves are messed up, can you turn them off a bit and see if it helps. If the dial is stationary there may be a leak from the city main to the property in which case it is just seeping into the ground and the city may take the reading outside the house.

ADD: I had a leaky toilet use 44000 gallons in one month!! You fixed all those....maybe they are estimating the usage due to prior months, do you have outdoor faucets? Maybe someone turned it on and filled up their own pool/ hot tub, I don't know, that sucks! Can you read the meter and log it daily to see if there is a peak one day or something? Good luck OUCH 300 bones for water jeez that's a car payment.

Check out this link I found about lawn sprinklers sounds like they use LOTS of water and there is a calculator to figure up the usage.

http://www.dannylipford.com/diy-home-improvement/l...

Where are you? Could it be that the water service feeds more than your unit?

A useful experiment would be to turn the main valve off for an extended time—like a day—and see if someone reacts?

47,000 gallons in one month is impressive. Assuming you didn't fill a large swimming pool, it ought to be obvious if there is a leak.

What was the first month's water usage? How was consumption affected by the changes?

* * * * * follow up * * * * *

47,000 gallons per month is a little over one gallon per minute. That's like a bathroom faucet half open at all times. It's plenty of flow to track down by audible means, assuming the environment is reasonably clear of ambient sounds.

Do Florida water meters really read gallons? I've only seen meters reading hundreds of cubic feet.

Check the sprinkler valves for leaks, even a little dribble can use a lot of water over a month. Ours leaked at the top and flooded the lower yard, but we didn't get up on the hillside to check those and they were leaking too. Being in a state which declared a 4th stage emergency drought, we have had to severely cut back our water usage from 15, 000 to 5,000 gallons a month or risk being fined. We have low flow showers and sinks, did the toilet change to 1 1/2 gallon and capture water while we are waiting for it to heat up. Our shower alone gives us a 5 gallon bucket full while we are waiting for the water to get from the hot water heater to the faucet. Check under sinks and vanities for drips and leaks, too. Go to your meter and check whether it is leaking (our neighbor's was under his front hillside and the only clue he had was that the ground cover was lush and full there LOL).

You won't believe this! The people in this video has mysterious water usage too. The guy stayed home sick one day and heard water running.

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/7/Wise-Cat-f...

Call the water company and have them come do an analysis.