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As to raising the matter before the AGM in a timely manner, the horse has well and truly bolted. Certainly in the case of large stratas.
Fruitzebra doesn’t need to raise an item on the agenda – it’s already there, in the discussion about and approval (or otherwise) of the budget.
What they really need to do is examine the budget in detail before the meeting and then propose amendments at the meeting, as they are perfectly entitled to do.
If they feel too much is being spent on one service or item, or even that too much is going into the sinking fund, for instance, they can raise it at the meeting. If they require details about individual items of expenditure they can ask questions at the meeting.
If their challenge to the budget is well-founded, they won’t lack support from other owners who will be just as keen to pay less in levies. But it has to be a detailed argument – not just saying that they feel they should be paying less then trying to back the budget into that.
If there is one major item that they feel is costing too much or is unnecessary, then they may be able to slip that on to the agenda before it is issued. But until they have seen the budget (which should be issued with the agenda) they won’t have much to go on.
Writing to the committee to ask them to adjust the budget less than 10 days out from the AGM may have little or no effect apart from alerting them to the fact that a challenge is coming. My experience of committees is that they are more likely to batten down the hatches and justify their desisions than undertake a review of their plans at this late stage.
Arguing the point at the AGM isn’t ideal, but in this time frame it may be the best way – provided you have done your homework on the budget.
And one final point – strata budgets are based on a combination of what the owners’ corporation need to spend on services and maintenance, and what they want to spend (on improvements etc). They are rarely if ever based on what owners can afford or want to pay.