Not just who pays but whether they will pay! If you try to get people to pay for the required work via a levy or taking a loan there is a good chance people will vote to do nothing and spend nothing. If you have a sinking fund plan in place and the levy is planned and on a schedule etc. people get used to it and don’t complain (at least not as much). If the plan includes a contingency component and something unexpected needs doing, or you even propose an improvement to the common property, there is a chance it will be approved because the money has already left people’s pockets.
There are savings to be made from attending to work in a timely manner as well.