Florida statues/regulations

Here is the situation:
the developer lives in the 13 home cul-de-sac HOA. the homes were built in 2001-2003. the second occupant to take ownership was in OCT 2002. At that time, the developer made an oral agreement with the homeowner to place the community subdivision sign in the front portion yard of that lot. (1st house/corner) The agreement was that the homeowner would pay for the electricity to light the sign in exchange for no hoa fees once light was operable. The developer also stated hoa fees would not start until the last house was occupied. The homeowner stated that paid a prorated amount for 2002 and 2003 in the original contract loan. We have no record of payment from 2003-2006. The homeowner also stated that the fees increased without a vote in 2002 or 2003.

The sign was paid for by the HOA account.

Questions:
Was the developer supposed to pay out of pocket for the sign or can the HOA pay for it?
Can the homeowner pay for the lights or can the HOA collect all fees?
Can the HOA fees be increased legally before it is turned over to the homowners from the developer?
Why are fees collected from homeowners before the HOA is turned over to the homeowners and the last houses are developed?

We had a similar situation in our FL HOA.

We discovered during turnover that the developer sold off the empty lots to the adjoining homeowner (5) and told them they would not have to pay assessments on those lots - and in two cases, gave them a document with that promise.

While personally sympathic to those folks, the Board had a duty to collect ALL assessments for the lots platted in the subdivision and we were so advised by the Association's attorney (ours - not the developers). To protect the Association, we had to lien the properties.

It took almost two years to get this settled - the homeowners did threaten court action and did reached some sort of monetary agreement with the developer. We finally got the back assessments paid, the liens cleared and have had no further issues.

FYI that hiring our own attorney was money well invested.