HOA Nut House

KPHO-5 TV

PHOENIX -- A Valley man says his local homeowner's association is misusing the money collected from members' dues.

Jack Matthews wants his landscaping neat, and his rules enforced; any leftover money should be returned to the HOA's members, he said.

"The HOA's [paid] for advertising a garage sale that only six people participated in," he said. "Two of them were board members."

Matthews said the HOA also spends money on neighborhood barbecues and gatherings.

Nevertheless, a former treasurer of this Apache Peak subdivision's HOA, Greg Vandersteeg, defended the board's actions.

"We're trying to do something good and raise the welfare and get everybody to know everybody so we can watch each others' houses when we're gone," he said. "It may be a little loosey-goosey, [but] we've got 28 homes here -- not 400 homes."

Matthews said he doesn't buy it.

"This is not a social club we belong to, this is an HOA," he said. "There are rules to maintain, and they're not being maintained."

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