Annual Condo Association Meetings
This is the time of year that many community associations hold their annual and budget meetings. Annual Meetings give owners the opportunity to vote for board members and typically to ratify (but often times not approve) the annual budget. There are notice provisions for the annual meeting that must be strictly observed. Among these, notice must be provided by U.S. Mail. Email notification of an annual meeting does not constitute official notice.
There is also a quorum requirement which, if it is not met, official business cannot be conducted.
The New Mexico Condominium Act holds that “unless the bylaws otherwise provide, a quorum is present throughout any meeting of the association if persons entitled to cast twenty percent of the votes which may be cast for election of the executive board are present in person or by proxy at the beginning of the meeting.” So, if there was a quorum at the beginning of the meeting then there will be a quorum
throughout the meeting regardless of how many people leave.
In a condominium association, the board typically provides a copy of the budget at least 14 days and not more than 30 days before the meeting called to consider the budget, which is usually the annual
meeting. The method by which budgets are ratified in a condominium is one of the more difficult concepts for many condominium owners to understand. The New Mexico Condominium Act holds that “unless at that meeting a majority of all the unit owners or any larger vote specified in the declaration reject the
budget, the budget is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present.” In other words, so long as proper notice is given, any number of owners can show up at the meeting and the budget will be
ratified unless rejected by a majority of all unit owners, not just those at the meeting.
Most community associations are structured to provide the board with most of the authority and responsibility for making decisions on behalf of unit owners. It is important to attend your annual meeting and take the process of board elections seriously because decisions made by the board will have a direct effect on your life and finances.
Tom Simon is the Managing Member of WestGate Properties LLC, specializing in multi-tenant commercial and community association management.