We are a new non-profit corporation only road association that was just setup in Dec 2014. We have 5 landowners and about quarter mile of roadway. Prior to the road being transferred for us to manage, we had an verbal agreement with our plow guy. The new landowners (as of Jun 2013) at the entrance have decided not to pay their share since they have their own snowplow. Any suggestions on how to handle this issue will be appreciated. Should we establish a road maintenance agreement to include snowplowing for the future? Thanks.

Don't you have By-Laws?

Our non-profit corporation by-laws state this in Article XIV - Dues and Assessments......

Section 1. Annual Dues. The members may determine from time to time the amount of annual dues payable to the Corporation by members.

Section 2. Assessments. Assessments may be levied for paying the costs of protecting, preserving, care and maintenance of the Wilson View Drive.

If your bylaws are like this then the Board of Directors should determine how much the road would cost for grading, plowing, insurance, office supplies, etc and make a budget proposal for the members to agree to pay as annual dues. If someone does not pay, as a corporation, you are entitled to put a lien on their home.

But first you need a road maintenance agreement that spells out how the fees will be determined. That gets tricky. We have landowners that only have 75' frontage to over 500' frontage. 

Mike McEvoy wrote:I don't understand your need of a separate maintenance agreement based on lot owners frontage. Does the plowing include lot owners driveways or some other individual need therefor costs vary?

Our association just plows and sands the association's road.

Mike, by that I meant that there are different views of how owners should be assessed. Some think it should be how much road frontage each property abuts the road, others think one fee should be for seasonal owners vs year-round residents due to snowplowing issues, and others feel that the road maintenance costs should be equally divided among all owners regardless of frontage or usage. Ours is the last.

The key word is "benefited." All owners are benefited by having road access to their property so the last is the least headache for the Board to have to deal with when assessing dues in my opinion.