How do your HOA expenses breakdown

Do you contribute to reserves?

RS,

With the differences in type, size, amenities and services between Associations, I don't think you will find a generic norm. Additionally, each Association may differentiate categories differently.

The way to find out if your Association is paying reasonable prices is to bid out every service contract when the contract comes up for renewal.

The way to find out if your Association is putting enough money into reserves for expected maintenance, repair and replacement of capital components would be to complete a reserve study.

This is the breakdown that I consider important. And here are our numbers:
8.5% Administrative Overhead (MC, professional fees, technology, etc.)
77.0% Common Element Maintenance (taking care of the place physically)
14.5% Reserve Contribution (replacement of aging infrastructure)

18.4 % Common Area Maintenance
14.9 % Trash/Recycling Services
5.5 % Snow Removal
11.6 % Tree Pruning/Removal
3.2 % Utilities (Street Lights)
2.6 % Insurance Premiums
5.5 % Admin, Legal, Taxes
1.2 % Misc.
37.5 % Placed into Reserves

We are in an HOA (vs. condominium).
Only amenities are private roads, sidewalks and 2 small playgrounds.

RS,

What is your Associations Break down?
Do you serve on the Board, a committee or simply an interested member?
Is your Association under membership control or developer control?
Are you in an HOA or COA?

The last time I tried it (when I was board treasurer), 55% went to administrative expenses and the rest for common area and building maintenance (we're a townhouse community) and I didn't drill it down further.

I'm not on the board anymore, but still help with the newsletter - when I run our previous year's budget recap, I provide the budgeted amount vs. actual expenses and then break it down by cost per unit, which I think is even more interesting to homeowners. The can compare what they're paying as association members vs. what they'd pay if these were all detached homes where they'd pay more for snow removal, gutter cleaning (that is, if they weren't doing the work themselves).

236 properties paying into a master association to maintain common elements only:

Reserve Funds - 28.58%
Park/Grounds - 25.54%
Administration - 18.74%
Pool - 9.26%
Utilities - 6.58%
General Site - 5.97%
Lake Mgt - 2.64%
Clubhouse - 2.27%
Dog Park - 0.42%

You can ask for comparisons, but they really don't mean anything because we don't live in your community and you don't live in ours. Your community may be older or younger, larger or smaller, townhouse vs. high rise condo vs. detached homes, tons of amenities or none at all - all this and more should dictate your budget. You don't even say how much your total budget is, so any percentage may be considerably larger or smaller than what it could be

You might want to review your budgets over the last few years and look for trends. For example, you say your capital improvements have swung back and forth - what is the association responsible for? Was there any deferred maintenance (the longer you put off repairs and replacements, the higher the cost will be when you have no choice but to fix it)? Did the board review at least three contractor bids before making a selection?

I also note you don't have anything in reserves - is that because you don't have a reserve fund AT ALL or did you stop making deposits to pay for something in your operating budget? If so, you need to stop that right now, get a reserve study (if you haven't already done so) and use it to come up with a realistic budget - beginning with making regular deposits so you'll have money for replacements when the time comes (and maybe avoid paying 70% of net income in improvements).

The only thing from your list that I'd wonder about are the picnic dinners - I know some HOAs sponsor parties and provide food, entertainment and such, and maybe 27% of your budget really isn't very much. On the other hand, you could turn the picnic into a gigantic potluck and let the homeowners contribute everything.

We are 65 single family homes with a gate, and own our own roads.

Landscape Maintenance: 31%
Street lighting and other electric: 25%
Repair and maintenance: 21%
Reserve Contribution: 5% (I consider our reserves fully funded, but a couple of long time board members can't come to terms with not adding to the reserves every year.)
Insurance: 5%
Contingency: 3%
Irrigation water and maint: 3%
Retention pond maint: 2%
Telephone (for gate): 2%
Admin expense, PO Box, Corporate fee, office supplies: 1.5%

These add up to slightly less than 100% due to rounding of the numbers above.

If you're looking to save more money to pay for amenity replacements without fear of special assessment, keep in mind the Picnic Dinner budget is "consumed" but the Capital Expenditure budget is invested in the community.

If your community is pleased - and you're dodging a special assessment if a sudden need arises - you're fine.

We have two line items in the reserves for Roads.

One is for milling and paving. The other is for repairs & seal coating. We had to separate the two into different line items because some board members wanted to use all of the funds for repairs which would have set back the milling and paving (which is already 10 years over due). Curbs are covered under our sidewalk/curbs line item. Additionally, we have a contingency line item in the reserves to offset any differences between expected and actual costs.

We have been doing repairs as needed and last year spent 20K on drainage issues for the roads (which included some curb repair). When we were bidding for repairs, we also asked that they include an option for milling and paving. This gave us the average of $14 per square yard for paving that we used for the study.

The only suggestions I have are:

1) make repairs as needed, otherwise your milling/paving estimate will be off if repairs are needed during the milling/paving.

2) When you get bids for repairs, have them give an offer for milling and paving at the same time. This way, you will know if your initial estimate needs adjusted.

If you set it up Tim, I'll add to it.

I still think, Tim, that the topic of roads, curbs, sidewalks, etc. and reserves could benefit many who visit this forum, who wouldn't necessarily open this three.

Would you mind sharing what your average cost of water per household is?

HOAa is about 40 years old with 135 members. Cap expense is used for roads and major improvements, Walkways, boat ramp, entrance way upgrades

If you are adding to infrastructure, then it would be a capital improvement.
If you are simply repairing/replacing it should come from Reserve funds.

Don't forget that every capital improvement can affect the amount needed for Reserves.

Is your association finished and controlled by the membership or is it still being added to by a developer/builder?

Sorry for my double post--the 2nd one is in better shape!