Not sure if they would be defined as legal expenses.
Costs can include legitimate charges for professional advice – but not for your time spent away from work, for instance. It doesn’t have to be legal advice. The strata manager is entitled to charge for their time but if they were planning to do so they should have advised you to apply for costs at the tribunal
You need the strata manager to tell you, preferably in writing or via an email, why a special levy is required when the there are sufficient funds in the kitty. Sounds to me like somebody screwed up and there’s some backside covering afoot.