Condo Q&A

Should these items be in our reserve or operating budget?

Written by CondoAssociation.com | Fri, Nov 3, 2017 @ 12:44 PM
My HOA currently has several items less than $10,000 each in our reserves assessment that I think are not items to be reserves but should be in the operating budget (maintenance or other). Our total HOA budget is well over $1 million. Items I’m questioning are 1) Electrician assessment of infrared panels $5,000, 2) Lawn de-thatching $8,500, 3) Fire standpipe testing $4,000, 4) Lawn furniture re-strapping, as needed $9,000 (in addition there is a separate reserve item for new lawn furniture), 5) pool grout repairs $4,500 (in addition there is a separate reserve item for a complete pool re-tile), 6) spall repair allowance $10,000 (this is a fund for little repairs since there is a separate reserve item of $268,000 for spall repair and painting that occurs every 10 years). These items occur sporadically and in the case of the lawn, every other year. What do you think about these items? Reserve or operations/maintenance budget?