Assessment increased > 20% Violates Bylaws

And that is the key point.

If it is in violation of the Bylaws, someone would need to challenge the issue in court to have the increase reversed.

Typically, ombudsman, if AZ has one, only deal with alleged violations of applicable statutes (and that may be only one or two). A violation of Bylaws is an internal issue and must be resolved by:

1) pointing out the facts and hope the vioating party chooses to comply
2) Reaching a compromise between the parties
3) legal action through the courts

The other option is to live with it and, perhaps, use it as a rally cry to other members to vote the bums out.

It's odd that the bylaws would tie the board's hands this way. Prices rise as they rise - they don't care about limits in bylaws. (By the by, the CPI is not a very good benchmark to measure HOA expenses. The PPI - Producer Price Index - is better because it measures the cost of raw materials instead of things like food, clothing and medical care.)

There are a number of things that could result in much higher expenses for an HOA:

* Large increase in insurance premiums because of 1. excessive small claims; 2. had to settle a lawsuit; 3. HOA was previously under-insured.

* Years of deferred maintenance have just caught up with the HOA, or there has been unusual damaged due to severe weather.

* Previous boards haven't wanted to be "the bad guys" and have kept the budgets artificially low, so homeowners have an unrealistic view of how much money is actually needed.

* The HOA finally did a reserve study, which showed them to be severely underfunded - and the governing docs and/or state law require HOAs to fund their reserves in accordance with the most recent study.

I agree with others that you should study your association's financials before you come to any conclusion about this increase. If the money is needed, the board will have only two options: raise the needed funds, or neglect something.