Reserve-Trees

Started by SharonB6 • 3 replies • 1165 views

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SharonB6 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 70

Posted:

A little while ago there was a discussion here on reserve studies. My fellow directors decided we are too small to validate a reserve study. So I figured I would piece one together on our own. We are only responsible for two main things. The landscaping and our mailboxes. The Master Association is responsible for everything else, but is also extremely under funded right now.

First- I know the cost of replacing a tree is about $300. Now one would expect these trees to live way past 30 years. However, God forbid some sort of diaease happens that wipes them out completely. So with this in mind how would one calculate the amount of money to put in the reserve? Should we just calculate X amount of trees will probably die a year and save or should we start saving to replace them all?

We have two community mailboxes. How would I figure out much they would cost to replace and how would I know the expected life expectancy of it?

Thanks for your help!

DeeS1 (Michigan)
Posts: 223

Posted:

We are a small community too and struggle with similar issues. A full-blown reserve study for our limited common areas would be roughly 7.5% of our yearly operating budget, so we are currently planning on our own. I'm not saying we are doing it correctly -- obviously a professional study is desired -- but for us, to be an item saved for in reserves, it must meet the following criteria:

Common area responsibility
Useful Life less than the life of the community
Predictable Remaining Useful Life
Replacement Cost above a pre-determined minimum threshold

We have determined our minimum threshold to be $1000 (anything less than that and not meeting the other three criteria is pulled from our general operating funds, which we budget for yearly). So, if it were 1 or 2 trees, we could absorb the cost. We would not consider a wide-spread disease as "predictable" so we wouldn't reserve for it. However, we did decide that we would "re-landscape" every 15 years (adding to or changing the configurations of our beds) and we are planning for that in reserves.

For your mailboxes, first make sure they are not supplied/property of your post office. We discovered that ours where and would be replaced by them. If they are not, you can go online and price them out with a simple google search. Factor in for inflation and installation. They last a very long time with routine care and maintenance (20+ years). With your trees, don't forget removal of the dead ones .... a 30+ year old tree is going to cost a lot more than $300 to remove and replace.

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Dee: beautiful response!

SharonB6 (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 70

Posted:

Thank You!

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