Another hornets nest..... is the annual assessment.

Money in accounts doesn't mean it's not accounted for.

What percent are your reserves funded?
How much should the Association set aside for reserves (per the reserve study)?

$21,600 per month, per year???? It sounds like you're not a gated community and very little landscaping to care for.
You really need a reserve study and audit conducted. You don't want to get stuck holding the bag if or when there is a major issue and you are stuck with a 5 or 6 figure assessment because of a BOD foul up.

PS call your insurance agent and add loss assessment coverage to your homeowners policy.

Ask for a financial balance sheet. That should define all the monies in their different accounts. ( checking, savings, reserves, investments, capital ventures, petty cash, insurance deductibles, road fund, etc)

Teri,

Are you in single family home HOA or a condominium?
What common areas does the Association have (private roads, sidewalks, playgrounds, etc.)?
What services, if any, does the Association provide (trash/recycling, snow removal, etc.)?
Is the Association controlled by a developer or the members?

What are you worried about the most? Reserves too small? You don't have a reserves at all? Are the common areas not being kept up?

It is odd that you haven't had a few increases in 20 years, but then again, I bet most of your neighbors like it that way and so no one says anything. Remember, the reason rouge boards get away with stuff is because the homeowners don't keep them in check. This also means YOU also share some blame in what's happened.

Start with getting copies of the last 5 years of budgets and pay attention to the line items. What's increased the most over the years? Take your questions to the board and see what they say. While you're at it, look at your documents - what common areas does the association care for? If you don't have very many, that could be why you haven't needed a fee increase.

From this point on, start paying more attention to your board. Turn off the TV and go to a few board meetings and listen to the proceedings. Just because the resident's wife is bookkeeper doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem, although I don't like the optics of it (president and bookkeeper lining in the same household names me nervouse). On the other hand, you don't even know why your budget has stayed the same, so you need to educate yourself

I am not convinced anything is amiss in the dollar figures. Instead and respectfully, I am wondering whether you understand what reserve funding is. If the HOA is accumulating money to replace a clubhouse type facility or other facility that all members are permitted to use, or has to plan on a full-blown replacement of roads, then some $40,000 being in "reserve funds" does not seem at all out of line. Many older communities aged 25 or more are typically on the cusp of major renovations. In such cases having a reserve fund equal in value to two or more times the annual budget is not unusual.

By the numbers: The $40,000 accumulated over say 25 years amounts to about $1600 per year put into a "reserve fund." With an annual budget of about $21,600, with $1600 put away for "a rainy day" (meaning put into a reserve fund), it sounds like at least dollar-wise, the planning may have been reasonably prudent. Socking away 10% or so of the annual budget into a reserve fund is not unusual. I understand some states even have statutes requiring a certain amount of money be put into a reserve fund. Loans from the VA and FHA even require a certain amount of reserve funding before the buyer is approved for a mortgage for a purchase in a condo.

I echo what others are saying about reserve funds.

PAYING MORE ATTENTION to the board is the least of my complaints. TV-off-check. Listen to proceedings-check-check. Thank you AugustinD for reading [everything] rather than spew.

Our governing docs are clear. We do not pay dues. We are to pay an annual assessment...... assessed every year. Our subdivision is made up of 50 (originally) now 60 ranchettes 4.7ac-14ac. Some lots border the Salt River. Before purchasing my lot, I combed through the CCR's, asked clarifying questions, was satisfied, then signed on the dotted line. With the boobs on the board deciding they can usurp anything with 'just a vote', tossing protocol to wind; they have bastardized the simplest regulations, trod on personal property rights making all of accountable for the poison/weed killing. Top that off with zero oversight of any jobs performed, and done half-assed.

So until we can see the books, records, papers as defined in CCR's and WY state statutes which we have asked for nearly every year, and been ignored.... not refused..... ignored..... to this point of getting an attorney. We've been pissing in the wind; squatting with our spurs on; huntin' a dead dog; up a crick with no waders; gettin' directions from a blind man; playin' a card game we were dealt out of 20 years ago......

We do not have common areas, per se. No club House, pool, yada, yada. We have roads that need to be plowed in winter and repaired as needed. Do you pay to mow your neighbor's grass? Do you landscape your neighbor's yard? Do you snowplow any other time than in winter? Do your unpaved roads need grading every few years? Do you pay to control weeds on your neighbor's lot? That's all we do folks, and two items are against the CCR's. Control your own weeds. Bill for plowing when its snowing. TaDaaaa. But our magnanimous board takes it on, then doesn't follow through. We have weeds everywhere, that float into all our property. We have graded roads from July that are pitty and washboard within days of the job being done. Did anyone follow-up.... BS if they say they did.

To add to Geno's comments, there might be legal and financial considerations involved if the HOA is retaining funds beyond what a Reserve Study would require. Important to dig in and get some details.