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Posted By SheliaH on 03/17/2018 7:26 PM
Could it be you aren't getting the votes either way because people haven't been educated on the reasons why you have to go over 5%? Some people may not care and won't vote regardless of what you do, but others may be fixated on the 6%, 7% or however much the board wants to up the assessment and will say no, not realizing they may be shooting themselves in the foot.
So you might want to start with reviewing what the homeowners have been told and then encourage them to attend a meeting and vote. How much time did you give people to vote - perhaps you need to extend the voting period for another month or two.
In my community, not voting at all was the equivalent of casting a "no" vote, so if you don't get enough, the board will have to decide what to do if the community still needs the money. They may have to settle for increasing the assessment to the 5% max every year for the next two or three years and then see what happens. If people yell (and they will), that's whey they need to do the educating they should have been doing all along - the buildings are old, the reserves are underfunded, too many delinquencies or whatever has brought you to this point has to be addressed and tough decisions have to be made. Maybe the homeowners will have to vote to make certain services homeowner responsibility.
Good suggestions, especially the 5% a year if the vote fails.