vote no on Amendment 6 & Amendment 7 (regarding article iii, section 3)
What the amendment proposes?
Protecting Sutton Lakes from unchecked HOA fee hikes.
Article III, Section: 3
The Sutton Lakes Owners Association, Inc has revised their initial amendment to Article III, it arrived in the mail to most homeowners within the Sutton Lakes community on February 9, 2026, which is only eight days until this is to be voted upon. There have been some changes over the initial proposal, which was to allow the Association to raise our annual assessments by as much as they want, anytime they want, without the approval of the homeowners who they were elected to represent. They have made revisions to this.
The problem at hand is that the Sutton Lakes Homeowner's Association, Inc is attempting to amend Article III and alter the requirement that they cannot raise our annual assessments over the prior year by more than 5% without the approval of the homeowners.
Initially, the original proposal attempted to do away with the right of the homeowners to vote (this is our current right) and would have allowed the Association the “authority” to raise the assessment over the prior year by any amount without any oversight. In other words, they could raise our assessments by as much as they wanted, anytime they wanted and without any oversight. This was the actual proposed Amendment in the initial document created on January 8, 2026.
As recently as January 28th, 2026, a revised proposal was created and mailed out on February 4, 2026 (per the postmark). Most residents either received it on February 9th or may still be waiting to receive it. This is eight days before voting on this proposal.
The “revised” proposal will allow the homeowners to keep their right to vote (how thoughtful). However, instead of being allowed to vote when assessments are to be raised by 5% over the prior year, it will now triple the cap to 15%. So now, if the assessments are to be increased higher than 15% over the prior year, it will be required to have a vote from the homeowners.
More problematic and concerning is the additional language the Association has added to this amendment. Specifically, within Article III, Section 3, subsection c, parts 1 & 2: which “excludes the 15% limitation” for the Association’s “Reserve Funding” and “Insurance Premium”. What this means is that the Association may deem whatever amount is to be kept in their reserve funding, without any oversight or restrictions. In other words, if they need more than the 15% allowed only with the approval of the homeowners, this will now be exempt from the 15% cap restriction and oversight of the homeowners.
You must make a decision
Article III was initially created with the entire purpose of protecting the homeowners/members of the community from excessive assessment fees, and to act as a system of checks and balances to ensure that the Association is never able to raise our community’s assessment by more than 5% over the prior year’s assessment. If there was a special circumstance that emerged, an unexpected or unforeseen contingency, then the Association may reach out to the community, and explain the need for a higher assessment, and ask that the members (us in the neighborhood) to vote on the proposed fee hike. If it was a valid need, the community has in the past voted to allow this on a case-by-case basis.
This is the part that as homeowners, is hard for us to understand. If the Association already has the ability to increase the assessment over 5% above the prior year, and it just requires asking the community to vote upon it, then why is there the need to triple the 5% cap? What is it that the Association needs to spend our money on, that asking those that elected them for authorization, is too much of an inconvenience and is restrictive for them?
Upon initial review of the 2025 Sutton Lakes Owners Association, INC Financial Report (as of December 2025), it is more than apparent that the issue is not a revenue problem, it's a spending problem. If the Association's accountability to the homeowners is removed, it will become a problem for all homeowners and future homeowners of our great neighborhood and community.
Please make sure you vote on February 17th at the Kernan Blvd. Baptist Church Pavillion, or by proxy.