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
This proposed amendment would remove the requirement for a membership vote if assessments are raised more than 5% from the previous year’s assessments. The purpose of this amendment is to provide greater authority to the Board to budget for the operating and reserve needs of the community. The most common reasons for the assessment increases are for necessary items such as insurance premiums, maintenance, and the funding of reserves. Removing this member vote makes it more likely that the Association can continue to operate as provided in the Declaration.
This is the current Article
3. Maximum Annual Assessments
(a) During the calendar year when the first Residential Lot is conveyed to an Owner, the maximum annual assessment shall be the Initial Maximum Annual Assessment
(b) From and after January 1 of the year immediately following the conveyance of the first Residential Lot to any Owner, the maximum annual assessment may be increased each year not more than five percent (5%) above the maximum assessment for the previous year without the vote of the membership.
(c) From and after January 1 of the year immediately following the conveyance of the first Residential Lot to any Owner, the maximum annual assessment may be increased above five percent (5%) by a vote of two thirds (2/3rd) of each class of members who are voting in person or by proxy, at a meeting duly called for this purpose.
(d) The Board shall fix the annual assessment at an amount not in excess of the maximum.
(e) The Board, in determining the common expenses, may establish and maintain a reserve fund for the periodic maintenance, repair and replacement of the Common Areas or for such other purposes as the Board deems prudent for the operation of the Association.
Article III
Covenant of Maintenance Assessments
This will be the Article after the proposed Amendment
Article III
Covenant of Maintenance Assessments
3. Reserves
The Board, in determining the common expenses, may establish and maintain a reserve fund for the periodic maintenance, repair and replacement of the Common Areas or for such other purposes as the Board deems prudent for the operation of the Association.
What does this mean???
First let’s look at what Article III is all about, and why it was created. When the Homeowner’s Association was initially established, the Declarations of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions were created to establish rules and regulations that the community must abide by, the overall objective was to protect the property values of the Sutton Lake’s community by keeping properties looking respectable and well maintained. The original intent was for the betterment of the Sutton Lakes community.
Article III was 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.
The original intention and sole purpose of this Article was to protect the residents (us) from the Association being able to spend out of control, without any oversight or having to account for irresponsible spending.
Again, the reason the founders of the Association put this article into the Declaration of Covenants, was to protect US!!
The most notable change is that the Association is wanting to remove four parts of the existing Article III, sections (a), (b), (c), (d). That is a removal of 80% from the existing Article language. That within itself is concerning.
Within all four of these parts is the language that protects our community from irresponsible spending and ensuring accountability for the Association’s actions. Now the Association is asking to remove these four parts which holds them accountable to the homeowners (us) and allow them the ability (power) to increase our assessments by ever how much they want, for any reason they want and anytime they want.
Anytime an organization, whether it be a government or corporation, wants to take away their member’s voting rights, you better start getting worried. Especially when it comes to the right to remove their oversight and accountability.