Expenses

Should the HOA be responsible for paying for mowing expenses on the property that is owned by the developer? The developer had a company come out and mow all the areas that are considered phase 2 (just approved by township to start building on plots) and the developer then sent the bill to the treasurer saying it needed to be paid out of the HOA account. I understand we are obligated to pay for the common areas, but I feel that the property owned by the developer/builders should hold the responsibility for the mowing costs. We stressed this and they are saying the HOA is responsible because the account is used for upkeep of the whole property/community even on the vacant plots.

Stop Signs/Street Signs, is the township responsible for the costs of stop signs and street signs?

It will all fall on one HOA and the Developer only holds the HOA president seat to make final rulings, the rest falls on the board members (home owners). Organization documents really do not cover anything and also does not state anything about common area's.
We have a small 5ft space by 200 yard area that is between the main road and the homeowners property and a island coming in that we deemed common area that the HOA would be responsible for.

We are now being told that anything that happens on the land that has been designated for building purposes and not bought by homeowners is the HOA's responsibility. The issue is we are just getting started and a small community (35 homeowners) 75% of our income goes towards snow removal. The homeowners are already stressing the issue about the cost of HOA fee's and we are most likely going to have to raise fee's again to cover the additional costs of landscape/lawn care.

nPs,

While the project is being built, all developers and builders will and have controlled the BOD. Look at the original governing documents of any association.

Answers are as I expected Richard and Brandon. Just wanted confirmation.

Developer controls. Difficult situation to be in, but no way to defeat - unless actions are outrageous. IMO, what you described is not outrageous.

Grass is not owned by builders/developer if it is designated on the plat as common ground. If common ground is mowed, you have no complaint. If common ground is mowed and that mowing extends onto individual parcels, incremental cost to do parcels is likely to be minimal.

Developer has already decided that HOA should pay. No place to escalate the issue economically.

Best suggestion I can make is to challenge the developer that the money being spent on mowing should be going into reserves. He is keeping today's fees artificially low because he wants to sell homes and isn't interested in proper planning for long term costs. Double-edged sword though.