Your community association must juggle a long list of responsibilities and obligations to effectively manage all the various aspects of your community. Regardless of how much experience you have with community management, budgeting for your HOA doesn’t get much easier over time. There are so many different factors to consider that it can be a challenge to know where to start. The good news is that you can ensure budgeting success with a few helpful tips from an HOA management consultant in Chandler, AZ.
Planning your budget
When you start developing a budget for your community, it’s important for you to start by identifying all relevant factors that will come into play. First, you need to set goals for the board based on the needs of the community and demand from the residents. Reserve items, like roof replacement, wall painting, or repaving should all be considered when you are formulating your budget. The reality is that you likely won’t have enough resources to get to every item on your wish list, so you should prioritize projects and goals based on their necessity, desirability, community impact and cost.
Once you have determined which projects, maintenance items, and services you want to include in your budget, you should get detailed information about the cost of services for accurate budgeting. This information can be gathered by examining actual costs spent from previous years, analyzing contracts with existing service providers and getting bids for improvement, repair, and renovation projects. This process of gathering information should include contacting current service providers and vendors and asking about potential price increases for ongoing utilities or services. Some vendors have price increases worked into their contracts, so your board and management team should review these contracts to determine what can be expected in the next calendar year. Insurance premiums are another important factor to consider. It’s best to contact insurance agents directly to get detailed information about potential increases in service and premium costs that will impact the community’s budget.
After this research has been conducted and a more precise budget for the year has been laid out, you should perform a thorough review of the reserve study and reserve funds to determine how much of the operating income should be transferred to the reserves for capital improvement projects for the upcoming year. It’s essential that you have enough operating and reserve funds available to cover budgeted expenditures, which is why it’s so important to be as thorough and detailed as possible when reviewing funds and establishing a budget. The best way to ensure that you can come up with a successful budget for the year is to work with an HOA management consultant in Chandler, AZ. A professional can take much of the guesswork out of budget planning and provide you with comprehensive budgeting services.
Speak with an HOA management consultant in Chandler, AZ
When you choose Tru-Star Management Solutions, LLC to assist with your HOA management, you don’t have to stress about budgeting. Our team has extensive experience developing successful budgets that enable communities of all kinds and sizes to achieve their goals. When you choose our service, you will receive an individualized consultation to develop a comprehensive management plan that helps your community reach its fullest potential. You can find out more about all the various services we offer by giving us a call today.
