Budget Season

‘Tis the season.   No, not the holidays, but the association budget season.  That joyous season where managers and directors work tirelessly to develop a workable, responsible budget and get little or no appreciation for their efforts. 

First, we would like to say thank you for those efforts.  We fully recognize and appreciate that what you do is both important and necessary.  Second, we want to provide our annual reminder to anyone who is preparing an association budget in Washington that the information your association must provide has expanded over the last several years.  The specific requirements may vary by type of association and thus we have included references to the specific statutes below.  Please make sure to carefully read the statute that applies to your Association. 

In general, as part of the budget process, the board of directors must disclose to the owner’s information related to the Association’s reserves. Again, the specific disclosures may vary based on the type of association, but the information you must disclose may need to include the current amount of assessments budgeted toward reserves, a statement of whether the association has the requisite reserve study and whether the proposed budget meets or deviates from the recommendations of that reserve study, and whether there is a current deficiency or surplus in the reserve funding on a per unit basis. 

The specific disclosure requirements for your type of association can be found in one of the following statutes RCW 64.34.308(4), RCW 64.38.025  RCW 64.90.525(2). 

The statute governing old act condominiums (RCW 64.32) does not have a budget section, but RCW 64.90.080 states that it supersedes any inconsistent provision of RCW 64.32, 64.34, and 64.38 and thus the budget adoption and disclosure requirements of RCW 64.90.525(2) should apply to old act condominiums.  To the extent there is a conflict between RCW 64.90.525 and the governing documents for your RCW 64.32 association, please contact your attorney to discuss how best to deal with that conflict.

To the extent we can answer any questions about the budget disclosures and adoption process, we are happy to help.