We seem to be talking apples and oranges here. If you look up the definition of "special assessment", it is "a specific tax levied on private property to meet the cost of public improvements that enhance the value of the property" (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, among others).
Therefore, a raise in maintenance fees for whatever reason does NOT fit the definition of "special assessment" - which was the question. My example of our mutual water district does meet the criteria - the assessment they are talking about will be for a specific improvement (the filtration system) and it will be levied on the homeowners in addition to our quarterly fees.
The original question is: "I was wondering if WorldMark HAS special assessments?" The question asked was not "Is WorldMark SUBJECT TO special assessments?" In other words, has WorldMark ever levied special assessments on their owners, not whether WorldMark ever PAID a special assessment levied upon them.
Therefore, the answer to that is that WM has never levied a special assessment upon their members. Their bylaws DO allow them to do so, if need be, but they haven't yet. There has not been any announcement that WM will do so when it comes to either Depoe Bay or Schooner Landing. Is it possible that WM will have to pay their portion of repairs to these two resorts? I'm sure that will be the case. Will they pay for it by levying a special assessment on their members? I would seriously doubt it - I would guess that they have enough money in their reserves to cover their portion, these were not emergency repairs, but problems that have been known about for a while.
I would expect that WM has done what my HOA (different entity from our water district) has done - they have anticipated repairs to our roads and have increased the reserves to cover those expected costs. They did that by raising our homeowners dues, that's the cost of having paved roads. But that does NOT constitute a special assessment.