ratifing budget.

I have a question, I may be over thinking. We all know that you need a quorum to hold a meeting, but per Washington RCW below the budget is ratified whether or not a quorum is present. How does that work? Does this mean as long a meeting is called for that purpose it doesn't have to be held if there is not a quorum and the budget is passed?

RCW 64.38.025
Within thirty days after adoption by the board of directors of any proposed regular or special budget of the association, the board shall set a date for a meeting of the owners to consider ratification of the budget not less than fourteen nor more than sixty days after mailing of the summary. Unless at that meeting the owners of a majority of the votes in the association are allocated or any larger percentage specified in the governing documents reject the budget, in person or by proxy, the budget is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present. In the event the proposed budget is rejected or the required notice is not given, the periodic budget last ratified by the owners shall be continued until such time as the owners ratify a subsequent budget proposed by the board of directors.

Amy,

This is the kind of nonsense that results when a legislature gets invovled.

You have a board of directors whose job is, in part, to determine a budget. No problem so far, that's what a board should do.

Then there is this convoluted passage that says after the board has done the job that any normal board should do, they must hold a special meeting for the owners to "ratify" the budget. Why bother with electing people to the board to perform the necessary and normal functions of a BOD if whatever the board does will be subject to second-guessing by the members who elected the board in the first place?

Anyway, my reading of this crap is that the budget is considered ratified unless a majority of the owners vote agains ratification. Basically, the association holds a meeting and if there are not enough naysayers to vote against the budget, the budget passes.

In answer to your questions, it appears that the meeting and vote is required. No way around it. The budget is deemed ratified unless a majority of members vote against it. Because the members may vote by proxy, it does not matter whether enough members to form a quorum actually attend the meeting.

Our current Annual meeting is in Sept, with fiscal yr running Jan-Dec. So we call a special meeting to ratify the budget in Dec. We never get a quorum either. We are currently revising our bylaws (I am on committee) and would like to move the Annual meeting to the first qrt of the year and include the budget. The BOD likes the idea of moving the meeting but still wants to call a Special meeting to for the budget.