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DavidW5 (North Carolina)
Posts: 565
Posted:
Our association board changed the threshold for items to be paid for out of the replacement reserves account from $1000 to $5000. The most recent reserve study no longer includes items under $5K. I am curious to know what threshold other HOA's use. Our HOA covers 800 single family homes in a 55 and over gated community with a clubhouse, pools, walking trails, etc. Because we are gated, the roads are private and the reserves have to cover road repair and repaving.

Questions have arisen about the source of funding for specific repairs. For example, the reserve study done last year lists the indoor pool pumps and filters as a single item, whose replacement cost is over $5K. One component had to be replaced this year at a cost of $4700, which was paid for from the operating account due to it being less than $5000. What level of detail does your reserve study cover? How do you determine from which account a specific repair should be paid? Suppose there are multiple related items, each less than $5K that need to be replaced at the same time - should these be paid from the operating account or the replacement reserve account?
MaryA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 7,043
Posted:
David,

My HOA has 1,700 members and is spread out over 24 individual subdivisions (all single family homes). I don't know how many acres of common area we have, but it is quite sizeable plus we have 12 lakes and 10 playgrounds to maintain also. We have close to 1 million in reserves. Our reserve study is quite involved and very detailed. I don't know that there is a cost threshold as I see items listed that are well under $1,000. If your reserve study is only for items costing $5,000 or more that would mean your budget should reflect higher maint costs to allow for repair/replacement of the lower costing items. Frankly I don't believe this is a good method of preparing a reserve study, but then I'm not an expert on reserve studies. The BOD may want to check this out by contacting several reserve study companys to determine what their philosophy is on this.

If an item is in the reserve study then it's repair/replacement comes from the reserve fund unless the BOD would vote to use the operating fund for whatever reason. BTW, IMO the pool pumps and filters should be separate items; I know they would be in our reserve study. As an example, we have lake pumps and diffusers which are accounted for separately.

GrahamO (Ontario)
Posts: 55
Posted:
Although I have written extensively on reserve fund matters, I'm not sure I'd call myself an "expert". It's a slippery subject in many mays. Your question is a good example.

My own take? I don't think there is such a thing as a "right" threshold amount. Nor do I believe that what other people are doing is a good approach. What I DO believ is that the reserves plan and budget and the operating plan and budget should be two entirely separate things, in the first place. In the second place, once you pick a threshold amout (here in Ontario most people pick $1000, and we have 8000 co-owned properties here) then it's apples and apples. What's rightlfully in the reserve plan are expenditrures over X dollars and what gets taken out of the fund are expenditures over X dollars. That rule must be unfailingly respected.

One more thing. The more line-items you have the better. Thisd alone will have a bearing on what gets budgeted to what, and what gets charged to what.

Hope this helps.

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