Dues
Contents
The short answer: one page, in plain lines: money in, money out, what goes to the reserve, and what is left. Draw it from the same books the board reads monthly.
The template
Hoavik hoavik.com/templates Annual budget
In by door. Out by the work it buys. Reserves named for the work, apart from monthly spending.
An owner who has never run an association should be able to follow this page without a translator.
Income — assessments
Doors × rate, by tier if doors differ
Income — other
Named line by line
Out — grounds
Mowing, snow, trees
Out — buildings
Repairs; the roof reserve is named under reserves
Out — insurance
Policy, period
Out — utilities, common areas
Out — administration
Postage, software, the CPA
Out — contingency
Small enough to be honest
Reserves — the work
Rough year · held today · added this year
Bottom line
In · out · to reserve · left
Annual budget THE ASSOCIATION Association: ______________ Fiscal year: ______________ THE BUDGET Income — assessments: $ ______________ Income — other: $ ______________ Out — grounds: $ ______________ Out — buildings: $ ______________ Out — insurance: $ ______________ Out — utilities, common areas: $ ______________ Out — administration: $ ______________ Out — contingency: $ ______________ Reserves — the work: $ ______________ Bottom line: $ ______________ From hoavik.com/guides/hoa-budget-template · General information, not legal advice.
Copied as clean text. Paste it wherever you write today.
A budget does not fail because the numbers are wrong. It fails at the annual meeting, when an owner asks what a line buys and the treasurer has to translate from memory. This shape needs no translator.
The test we use: an owner who has never run an association can follow this at the annual meeting without the treasurer translating. Budgets that fail in the wild fail there, not in the arithmetic.
Draw the budget from the same books
In Hoavik this page is drawn from the same books as the dues and the vendor agreements, so the figure in the packet matches the balance on the door. The file you hand a CPA comes from those same books. We do not keep the books as a service; the treasurer does the work.
- In by door, out by the work it buys
- The reserve named for its future work, not left as a leftover
- The figure in the packet matches the balance on the door
Keep the adopted page with the books
Keep the adopted one-page budget with the year's books, next to the monthly reports it should match. A budget nobody can find again becomes a rumor by spring.
When the board changes a line mid-year, write the change and the date on the same page. The annual meeting reads the page, not the memory of the vote.
General information, not legal advice. Your state and your governing documents differ.