Hot Springs Village raised assessments 2.3% without a member vote — and the class action is still open
Hot Springs Village raised assessments 2.3% without a member vote — and the class action is still open
2026-09-09 · Arkansas · Compliance
Hot Springs Village property owners are paying $115.79 a month on an improved lot in 2026 — $1,389.48 for the year — and no member voted on the increase. They did not need to. The Village's bylaws let the board apply an inflation escalator by supermajority vote, and it did.1
Meanwhile a putative class action alleging the property owners association violated its own Declaration remains open in Saline County, and the judge assigned to it recused in May 2026.
The 2026 numbers
From the POA's own fee schedule, dated December 22, 2025:
- Improved lots: $115.79 monthly / $1,389.48 annually (2025: $113.19)
- Unimproved lots: $51.58 monthly / $618.96 annually (2025: $50.42)
Both are up 2.30 percent, the same figure on both categories — the signature of an index applied mechanically rather than a budget-driven increase debated line by line.
The schedule sets out the rest of the money too: a $15 late fee on assessments, utilities and billing; a $2,000 buy-in fee on an improved lot and $300 on an unimproved one; copies at $1.00; notary at $25.00; a $10.00 convenience processing fee; and an individual POA Amenity Privilege Card at $725.00.
One line changed in a way owners in collections will notice. The 2025 schedule carried a Lien Release Fee of $300.00. The 2026 schedule replaces it with a Lien Administrative Fee of $100.00.
Why there was no vote
The Village's governing documents allow the board to apply an annual escalator tied to a Southern regional consumer price index by a two-thirds board vote, without going to the membership. A member election is required for a step increase beyond the index.
The last such member vote was in November 2021, and it passed 6,532 to 5,160 on 11,695 ballots — stepping improved-lot assessments to $90, $100 and $110 across 2022, 2023 and 2024. Everything since has been escalator arithmetic.
This is the mechanism worth understanding, because it is the one most Arkansas association members do not have. The authority to raise assessments comes from the recorded instrument, and where that instrument contains an index clause, the increase is automatic in substance even though a board formally votes on it.
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Related Arkansas HOA Topics
- Hot Springs Village POA, 2026 Fee Schedule (dated Dec. 22, 2025) — assessments, late fee, buy-in fees and the Lien Administrative Fee ↩
- Hot Springs Village POA, 2025 Fee Schedule — the prior year's assessments and the $300 Lien Release Fee ↩
- Atkins v. Hot Springs Village Property Owners Association, No. 63CV-24-477 (Saline County Circuit Court) — docket, Arkansas Judiciary CourtConnect ↩
- Ark. Att'y Gen. Op. No. 2025-052 (Dec. 4, 2025) — whether Hot Springs Village or its POA may become a water authority ↩
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