While some folks have the luxury of living in the moment, an HOA always has to be looking toward the future. If it’s the beginning of summer, the board needs to start thinking about leaf removal. If it’s fall, they need to make sure the budget is there for plows, salting, and sanding. It’s always a matter of looking over the horizon.

That’s why financial projections can come in so handy for an HOA. By looking back over the books and getting a good idea of what things cost, the board can have a pretty decent ballpark idea of what’s going to need to be spent in the future.

Of course, this is much easier if the costs are fixed. Pruning a tree will most likely cost the same this year as it did last year. Cutting up and removing a tree that fell in a high wind is a different story altogether. And of course, no one knows what kind of winter Mother Nature will dial up, so for those costs it’s mostly a case of hoping for the best but preparing (and budgeting) for the worst.

So while financial projections can be spot on one year and wildly off the next, they’re still a valuable asset to the HOA when it comes to planning and budgeting. And they’re something that the board can share with all the homeowners to give them an idea of what they might expect in the future.

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