annual meeting (budget increase)

Check your CC&R's on the approval process of increasing dues. A small increase may just take the board vote. It's usually around 2 - 3% just for cost of living type increase. However, an increase of about 5% or more may require the majority vote of the owners similar to having a special assessment. Your board may have chosen the smaller increase instead of having a higher increase.

Dorothy,
IF I understand you question correctly, the answer is ‘NO.’

Dorothy,

It's a shame that more homeowners don't show up at the annual meeting to fulfill their duty as members of the association. It shouldn't take a burning issue on the agenda to get people to show up, but I understand that this is the case in many -- if not most -- homeowner associations.

Unless there is a specific clause in your CC&Rs regarding what can and cannot be done at an annual meeting, any proper motion can be raised, discussed, and voted on, so long as a quorum is present. Unlike a special meeting, where the agenda items must be specified beforehand, it's usually wide open at an annual meeting. Motions can come from the floor or they can be raised by the board. It is likely that a dues increase can be raised and voted on at your annual meeting even if it's not announced beforehand.

You can point all this out to the members of your association and encourage them to attend and be ready to vote. Your association may also allow voting by proxy, and you could collect proxies to bring with you to the meeting. Communicating with fellow homeowners in advance of an annual meeting is a good thing.

Can you please give that statute?

Dorothy,

Unless your governing documents say that any increase in dues goes to a vote by the membership, the Budget is voted on for acceptance by the board only. A good Board may have a Budget meeting where the members can sit in on the budget discussion and actually call these Budget workshops. Many associations do this.

The actual Budget that is to be voted on will include a notification of what the dues will be and must be mailed or in the physical presence of all members at LEAST 30 days prior to the Board vote to accept the new Budget. That is how the Statute reads unless the raise in dues is higher than a certain percent of previous dues.

EdC5 Can you please give me that statute to raise dues 15%? Our hoa is allowed to raise dues 3% per year. In 2011 the board said we didn't need to raise dues so they voted for the 3% increase and deferred it. This year they added the 3% from last year and raised the dues 6% even though we are not allowed to raise more 3%per year.

I found it (or think I did).

In 718.112 section 8e number 2.a (scroll down the page) where it talks about budget meetings:

"If a board adopts in any fiscal year an annual budget which requires assessments against unit owners which exceed 115 percent of assessments for the preceding fiscal year, the board shall conduct a special meeting of the unit owners to consider a substitute budget if the board receives, within 21 days after adoption of the annual budget, a written request for a special meeting from at least 10 percent of all voting interests."

I did not find any similar language in FL 720. 720 only specified that the Board must adopt a budget. It did not limit the amount of the budget from year to year, therefore, I suspect that if your governing documents do not specify any limit - the increase amount might be controlled by the board.

Tim