Dues
The short answer: a reserve fund is money the association sets aside, by name, for big work that has not happened yet — the roof, the parking lot, the fence — so one year's owners are not handed the whole bill. It is named in the budget, separate from the money that pays this month's mowing and insurance.
Owners rage at dues increases they cannot follow. A reserve line they can read — what it is for, roughly when, and what is already in it — is the difference between a hard vote and a fight.
Say it on one page
Name the work, name the rough year, show what is held today. Three lines a resident can repeat back. If a line needs the treasurer's memory to explain it, the line is not finished. How a reserve is calculated, and what your state or documents require, is a question for your governing documents and your own advisors — this page is general information, not legal or accounting advice.
- Name the work the reserve pays for
- Name the rough year it will be needed
- Show what is already held today
Keep the reserve in the packet
In Hoavik the budget is drawn from the same books as the dues, so the reserve the board shows at the meeting is the reserve in the packet. We do not keep the books as a service; the treasurer does the work and the software keeps the record.
General information, not legal advice. Your state and your governing documents differ.