The answer is pretty simple –
First, our lease was up on the old golf carts and they had to be turned back in.
Second, the HOA cannot enter into multiple year contracts and all vendors were approached and not one was willing to enter into a single year contract.
Third, leasing the carts cost us $100K each year and at the end of 4 years we would have spend $400,000 and had no equity,
Fourth, the golf carts were a component item in the 2017 Reserve Study (i.e. we had saved to buy them)
Five, a financial analyses conducted by the FAC, determined that it was actually more cost effective to purchase the carts, than lease them – because at the end of the useful life, we can sell them to third parties.
There was no way to just buy a few carts or lease a couple or put new batteries in the old ones and try and make that work. It was in the best collective interest of the community to do that which was most cost effective over time, and that was purchase these new golf carts using repair and replacement reserve funds.
This is why your Board voted 5-0 (Stocky, Dzuro, Kessler, Thompson and Hedlund) to purchase these golf carts.