Depending on your CCR and your state laws and such - spending money for the HOA for property repair/s is where it should be spent if any place. Long term repairs are taking from reserves and month to month is operational, even if it is not stated through the budget. Unexpected repairs do take place so the BOD has the quest to take care of these items. They were voted to sit as a board member to be the shepard over the property/s

The owners elect the Board. The board makes spending decisions. Most states require Board meetings to be purlic for the owners. If owners care, they can attend or review the meeting minutes. Few owners care unless it involves THEM. The Board feels owner don't care what they do if no one attends meetings or asks relevant questions.

The Bylaws are where to look. They should contain provisions which set forth the limits on how and what spending should receive prior owner approval. If no provisions in the Bylaws set forth such limits, then read your state's condominium law to see whether such limits are imposed by state law. If neither the current Bylaws or state law place any limits on how and on what the Board spends the Association's revenues, then owners who share your concern and would like to impose limits should attempt to amend the Bylaws The process requirements for amending the Bylaws should be set forth in the current Bylaws and/or the Declaration. 
 
 
 
Most Bylaws provide the Board sole authority to establish the annual budget for the association which then determines each owners proportional share to be paid over the next 12 months. Expenditures for operation, routine repair and maintenance by the Board usually does not require prior owner approval. But again check the language in your Bylaws.

The short answer to the question is - by following governing documents. There is probably something in them that answers the question. Hopefully all your HOA members approve a budget for each upcoming year detailing operating expenses and a reserve contribution, and there is a reserve plan within which there are is list of major items that will need replacement or repair, or any new ventures, over a long period of time along with an estimate of their cost at that future time and a determination of how much should be set aside each year to meet those future obligations. By approving the budget the members are approving the expenditure of everything in it while the reserve plan, which hopefully has also been approved by the members, gives approval for non-operating expenses. There is usually (at least in my state) nothing in governing documents that requires member approval for the board to spend more than what was budgeted for operating or pre-planned reserve expenses in excess of the amount budgeted. This is because there is never a way to predict actual expenses precisely in advance. But there should be something in your governing documents that limits how much the board of directors can spend without member approval on operating expenses that were not budgeted and for taking money from the reserves for something that was not included in the reserve plan. Seems to me that a sprinkler and fancy floor tile should be, or should have been, included in the reserve plan and, if not, should require membership approval, or the board should be smart enough not to proceed without obtaining approval.

Clarification of my earlier comment: My state now REQUIRES membership approval of each year's budget in advance.

The issue of Capital Improvement - the addition of items not originally installed - generally is addressed in the documents as requiring owner approval and often is identified as a "one-time special assessment" to be used during that fiscal year to add to the property.  
New items then need to be calculated for future reserve contribution. An example would be a playground or picnic area with stone barbeque.  
Upgrading flooring should be planned in advance and including in the upcoming year's operating budget. Many documents require the condo to accommodate governmental requirements such as a mandatory sprinkler system. In circumstances such as this, proper procedure for borrowing may come from reserves with PLANNED reimbursement to reserves or by using the reserve funds as a guarantee for a loan by a bank or a vendor. Then the costs must be added to the operating budget to cover expenses.  
Reminder - include loss income due to uncollectible funds to ensure that the funds are there to repay the loan or reimburse the reserves. Read the docs and the Condo Act for clarification. 

The Board is elected to operate the HOA and make the best decisions they can based on their knowledge and expertise, or the expertise of vendors and contractors. Most non-board members don't know all the details and information for the decisions, and those details cannot all be detailed in Board Minutes. Attend the meetings, get the facts and information, question the Board members for details, and if you are not satisfied with how things are run, you can run in the next election.

Let me offer an interesting twist on the question and answers so far. My building's reserve study calls for the replacement this year of all of the weather stripping surrounding the windows, doors, and skylights. We have advised the owners that we plan to do this, and there are not any objections. We have obtained three bids, all very close to one another, but all three times greater than what the reserve study forecasted. Our strategy will be to advise the owners that we are accepting one of the bids and what the cost will be, but at the end of the day, such work is necessary to avoid water seeping into the walls and causing extensive damage to the support beams of our building.  
 
So, we have the authority to spend what is in the forecast, but will spend far more, unfortunately, as a matter of good judgement to prevent serious damage to our building.

On spending, this is usually regulated by your budget. At least that is the way we do it. Monthly expenses, improvements! We put 10% into reserve if possible from our monthly income . For any emergency expense, however the board can assess owners if necessary of which we have not had to do!! We try to go over a expected expenses at our annual meeting with all owners and we do ask for input. This meeting has taken up to 3-4 hours...Nothing goes unanswered, there are always variables taking in to account of weather and mother nature...

To Larry Weiss: 
 
 
 
Really? Because my board does care when owners ask relevent questions and attend meetings. They'd prefer it otherwise. They have meetings in the middle of the week at 1pm when many are working and if people question they are shut down

To: Maryjanetoo 
 
 
 
You are lucky. Your Association is first rate. I have been a Realtor for over 20 years. I live in a Condo. Many friends live in a condo. I find few owners are active or informed about their Board and community. The only time they are interested or attend meetings is when they stand to loose something, fees go up or the board has done something they do not like. I live in Florida and most owners treat their Board and CAM manager like the enemy. Reason is they are just not informed. I DO know there are many Associations that are well run and have many active owners that take their tern serving on the board and other positions. Those are the best. Those are the ones that have little turn over,fees are low and resale prices stay high. Good for them. Sounds like this is where you live.....

The rules tend to differ between states and provinces, but here is the Ontario, Canada perspective: the board may approve and make decision on operating and reserve (repair) expenses, as long as they are not adding a new service or asset to the condominium. They typically set the budget using past historical information pulled from their <a href=”http://condocontrolcentral.com/blog/property-management-system/”>property management system so that the budget is not just a shot in the dark.  
 
For adding new features or services (such as the green roof my building just added this year), the approval process varies depending on the amount of money to be spent. If it’s under 1% of the annual budget, no owner approval is required. Between 1 - 10%, the owners must be advised, and then they may call a meeting within 30 days if they object or want a vote. For changes that cost greater than 10% of the annual budget, an owner meeting must be called and the change must be approved at a vote.  

The rules tend to differ between states and provinces, but here is the Ontario, Canada perspective: the board may approve and make decision on operating and reserve (repair) expenses, as long as they are not adding a new service or asset to the condominium. They typically set the budget using past historical information pulled from their property management system so that the budget is not just a shot in the dark.  
 
For adding new features or services (such as the green roof my building just added this year), the approval process varies depending on the amount of money to be spent. If it’s under 1% of the annual budget, no owner approval is required. Between 1 - 10%, the owners must be advised, and then they may call a meeting within 30 days if they object or want a vote. For changes that cost greater than 10% of the annual budget, an owner meeting must be called and the change must be approved at a vote.