Clarification on voting for special assessment

Do owners vote 'yes/no' for a five year special assessment before the board has received all bids and chosen one of those?

Should there be a signed contract for the first year before owners vote yes/no?

Owners are being told that by the time the scheduled vote happens (early September) 'they hope to have four estimates', but materials given to owners prior to the scheduled vote only have estimates from one contractor with a 10% 'overrun' built into the estimate. The total monies needed for the project (over the five years) are based on that one estimate (w/ 10% increase built in). Is this a proper way to ask owners for a final sum of money for that long of a project?

It's not clear why owners should vote for a lump sum (five year total) based on the one estimate (w/ 10% increase built in), and when they won't have had an opportunity to know about estimates that haven't come in yet, and when the board has not chosen a final contractor based on those estimates. It feels a bit backwards?

I prefer waiting until all the bids are in, but Cathy makes a good point about other contractors dragging their feet. It may be they're busy with other work and want to get it done before looking at a project that's not scheduled to start until next year anyway.

There's also the matter of the project itself. If this is for major infrastructure work and some things need to be done sooner than later, you may not have the luxury of waiting too long.

Ask if the vote could be delayed until late September - early October would be better. August just got started, so you might get the other bids this month. The board would have to meet one or two more times to give them the same consideration, but at least some due diligence would be done. You can also check to see if they have the proper licenses, surety bonds, etc., in the meantime. Depending on what you find, that may eliminate one or two contractors and you can skip their bid.