special assessments...

Hi everybody - i was wondering about how special assessments were handled in your Association. Our definition of a special assessment (according to our DCC&R) is:

""Special Assessments." In addition to the common assessments described
above, the Association may levy, in any assessment year, a special
assessment applicable to that year only for the purpose of defraying, in
whole or in part:
1. The cost of any construction, reconstruction, repair or replacement of
a capital improvement upon the Common Area, including fixtures and
personal property related thereto; or
2. The expense of any other contingencies or unbudgeted costs; provided,
that any such assessment shall have the assent of two-thirds (2/3) of the
votes of the Members who are voting in person or by proxy at a
meeting duly called for this purpose. Any amounts assessed pursuant
hereto shall be assessed to Owners in proportion to the interest in the
Common Elements owned by each."

So far, the interpretation has been that any special assessment has to have a 2/3 majority vote of our membership and can only occur during the year of the assessment expense.

Are you interpreting this in the same way?

So far, our Attorney is agreeing that a 2/3 majority would be required; however, the period of time for the expense is 12 months...in place of the actual fiscal year. What do you think?

oljim, in texas

It is not completely clear to me whether #1 spending requires a 2/3 vote.

It might come down to the exact punctuation, paragraphs, and capitalization. And how you interpret them. There are two messages here. Caps say these are two independent sentences. Semicolons say they are to be read together as one sentence.

Since is says "assessment year," Jim, I take it to mean the period for which you have your budget, which seems to be your fiscal year. I do not see it meaning any old 12 month period.

It's also not clear to me, as with Fred, that #1 requires a vote. But even if not, your state statutes probably have a limit on how much --by what %--dues can be raised in a fiscal year.

Thanks everybody, for your responses. I have checked our state statutes and found that our state condo act is silent on the subject. It appears that the only governing document we have on this subject is our DCC&R - and it's appearing to most of us that the wording we have is not the best.

oljim, in texas