How do we split duties between our HOA and the metro district that serves our community?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 27, 2026

How an HOA board works out who maintains, insures and enforces what when a metro district, CDD or MUD overlaps the community, with a sample agreement and calendar.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

Find out what the district owns and what the association owns, tract by tract, then write it down in an agreement both boards sign. Most friction between an HOA and a metro district comes from three gaps: a tract nobody is sure about, a covenant both bodies think they enforce, and two budgets built on different calendars. In Colorado, a metro district can enforce covenants or run design review only under C.R.S. 32-1-1004(8), and it has to follow the fine and hearing rules in 32-1-1004.5. Florida community development districts and Texas municipal utility districts work under their own statutes, covered below. Rules vary by state, by the district's service plan and by your declaration, so treat this as a working method and have the association's attorney review any agreement before both boards sign it.

Start with the documents that decide ownership

Pull four sets of papers before the first joint meeting. The first is the district's service plan, which lists the powers and services the county or city approved. Every Colorado special district must record a public disclosure document and boundary map with the county clerk and recorder under C.R.S. 32-1-104.8, and that document says a copy of the service plan is available from the Division of Local Government. The second is the association's declaration and any supplements, which name the common elements the HOA must maintain. The third is the recorded plats, which label each tract and often say who it is dedicated to. The fourth is the deeds: a plat note saying a tract 'will be conveyed to the metro district' means nothing until a deed is recorded. Search the county records by tract for each one. Expect to find at least one tract still titled to the developer years after the last home sold. Nobody may be insuring that tract, so flag it for the developer and both boards in writing.

Build one responsibility map for both boards

Turn what you find into a single table with one row per asset and six columns: owner of record, who maintains it, who pays, who insures it, who answers owner calls, and the document that says so. Typical rows are entry monuments and their landscaping, irrigation systems, detention ponds, trails, parks, the pool and clubhouse, perimeter fencing, streetlights, sidewalks along tracts, and snow removal. Walk the community with a site map and mark each row in the field. The gaps show up at the edges: one irrigation controller watering both a district park and an HOA median, a fence the district built on an HOA lot line, a pond the district owns but the HOA's landscaper has been mowing for six years. Decide each one, then attach the map to the agreement. Our guide on what an HOA maintenance responsibility chart is explains the owner-versus-association version of the same exercise; this is the association-versus-district version.

Decide who enforces the covenants

In Colorado this is the question with the most law behind it. A metro district may furnish covenant enforcement and design review only if it has a contract with the association that defines each side's duties and lists the covenants the district may enforce, or if the declaration or rules name the district as the enforcement or design review entity (32-1-1004(8)(a)). The district can only spend revenue raised from the area it serves on that work (32-1-1004(8)(b)). Since HB 24-1267 (signed April 19, 2024, effective August 7, 2024), a district doing this work had to adopt a written fine policy by January 1, 2025, with notice to the owner and a hearing before an impartial decision-maker (32-1-1004.5(2)), plus a written dispute policy posted on its website (5)(a). It may not foreclose a lien for covenant fines (3)(b)(II), though it may certify delinquent charges to the county treasurer for collection like taxes after notice and a resolution at a public meeting (3)(b)(III). Suits to enforce a building restriction must start within one year of when the district knew or should have known (4)(d). If both bodies currently review exterior changes, owners get two answers. Pick one reviewer and put the choice in the agreement. Florida is narrower. A CDD may adopt rules to enforce deed restrictions under Fla. Stat. 190.012(4) only when several conditions are met, and where an association with enforcement power exists it needs a written agreement with a member-controlled HOA. In practice the HOA enforces. In Texas, a MUD may develop and maintain recreational facilities, which Water Code 49.462 defines to include parks, landscaping, greenbelts, sidewalks, trails and associated street and security lighting. Those are the same assets many Texas HOAs think they maintain, so the map in the previous step matters most there.

Put the split in a signed agreement

A short agreement beats ten years of emails. Include the asset map as an exhibit; the maintenance standard for each asset, such as mowing frequency or pond inspection; who pays and how shared costs are divided; insurance, with each side named as additional insured on the other's liability policy for shared work; who takes owner calls and how fast the other side is told; the covenants the district may enforce, if any; notice addresses; a meeting between the two boards at least once a year; and a term with a termination clause. Approve it at a noticed board meeting. A motion the HOA board can adapt: 'Move to approve the Maintenance and Covenant Enforcement Agreement with [name] Metropolitan District No. [x] in the form presented, subject to review by association counsel, and to authorize the president to sign it.' The district board has to approve it at its own public meeting, so allow a month or two for both calendars.

Line up the two budget calendars

A Colorado metro district follows the Local Government Budget Law. The proposed budget goes to the district board by October 15 (C.R.S. 29-1-105). The district publishes a notice, and any elector may file objections before the budget is adopted (29-1-106). The board must adopt it before the mill levy is certified to the county (29-1-108). If the district plans to stop mowing a park or rebuild a trail, you want to know in September, not after your own budget has gone out. Districts organized after January 1, 2000 with homes inside them must also hold an annual meeting with a report on infrastructure and bonds, unaudited year-to-date financials and a question period, and no official action (32-1-903(6)). HB 25-1219 (signed May 29, 2025, effective August 6, 2025) requires notice of that meeting by mail at the lowest cost option to elector addresses on the assessor's list, or by email to addresses electors gave the district. It also requires districts that must keep a website to post a plain explanation of their debt and maximum mill levy, the overlapping governments, and a contact for business hours and after-hours urgent problems (32-1-104.5(3)(a)(X) to (XIII) and (4)). A sample year for the HOA board: by January 15, read the district's notice to electors, which lists its directors, meeting schedule, mill levy and next election (32-1-809). By January 30, put the district's meeting dates from its website on the HOA calendar. In summer, send the district a written list of maintenance requests for next year. In September and October, get the district's draft budget and set HOA dues with it in hand. At the district's annual meeting, have one director attend and report back. In an election year, remember residents can run: self-nomination forms are filed from January 1 to the 67th day before the regular special district election (32-1-903(6)(a.5)).

Help owners tell the two bodies apart

Owners call whoever they know, which is usually the HOA. Put a short paragraph in the welcome packet and on the community website, and update it when the agreement changes: 'Our community is served by two separate bodies. The HOA collects dues, maintains [list] and reviews exterior changes. [Name] Metropolitan District is a local government that collects a property tax on your county tax bill and maintains [list]. For a broken streetlight or a problem in [park name], contact the district at [phone or web form]. For everything else, contact the HOA board.' When a Colorado home sells, the seller must give the buyer the district's notice to electors, service plan access, an estimate of the district's property taxes and a statement that district actions may raise costs (C.R.S. 38-35.7-110, as amended by HB 25-1219). Point to those in the association's resale package instead of describing the district yourself. For the owner-level explanation of how dues differ from a district levy, see our guide on the difference between an HOA and a special or metro district.

Mistakes boards make with a district

Paying the HOA's landscaper to maintain a tract the district owns, for years, because nobody checked the deed. Insuring a tract the association does not own while leaving one it does own off the schedule. Running two design review processes with different forms and different answers. Treating the district board as permanently controlled by the developer, when residents can file to run and the district has to publish how. Writing angry letters to the district manager instead of commenting at the district's public meeting, where the budget is actually decided. And skipping the written agreement because the current boards get along: the people change, and the agreement is what the next board will read.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

More on living with an hoa

Or browse all living with an hoa guides.