Special Assessment Votes

I am a homeowner that belongs to an HOA of 8 homes and 2 boardmembers. One driveway consists of 3 homes (my side) and the other side consists of 5 homes. The problem we are having is that every year the side with 5 homes is always asking for a special assessment for some sort of expensive repair such as landscaping, etc. This year they want to replace their driveway and the estimate they have is for $36,000, they also want us to replace their mailboxes with hightech mailboxes with locks for fear of mail theft as well as the mailbox structure. We have our second meeting this year to talk about this and 5 out of the 8 homes are going to vote "no" to all of the above. But our president mentioned that if we do not vote for this then they can put leins on our homes legally. If we thought that the damage consisted of natural wear and tear then we might be willing to negotiate some repairs, but they currently pay extra to have the garbage truck come down their driveways to pick up their garbage cans. These are small driveways and this cannot be good for them. So my question is, do we that are going to vote "no" on the new driveway and mailbox structure have rights or will we be blindsided at this upcoming meeting?

Thanks,
Amy