What you experienced is the reason I would never join a HOA.
It is giving Karens the authority to raise my housing costs to the sky.
While it is true they may not choose to do so—why take the chance?
I’ll tell you one thing that REALLY ticked me off about my complex. The association (ie owners) OWN a unit (worth roughly 700k) that they let the manager live in for free. He doesn’t pay dues or rent. He gets paid to manage the complex, as well as a separate payment to mow the lawn, clean the pool, perform certain maintenance jobs. He’s also a licensed RE broker so he makes commissions on sales and rentals at this complex as well as others around the island. He also gets paid to renovate people’s units that engage him.
When I asked the president of the association via email about this arrangement he responded by copying the manager to tell me this was a good arrangement!