Budget packet checklist for Texas boards

The Property Code sets no proposed-budget mailing requirement for Texas associations; your declaration and bylaws may. Check them first, because a document requirement is binding whether or not the code has one.

Beyond that, circulate the proposed budget, a one-page summary of what changed and why with the largest driver first, the line-by-line budget with the prior year actual alongside, the per-unit assessment in both billing-period and monthly terms, the reserve contribution and the study behind it, and the meeting date, time, location, and agenda.

This is not a compliance exercise. It is the difference between a room that arrives informed and a room that arrives surprised, and Texas boards have more freedom than most to choose which one they get.

Vendor-level general ledger detail, contract copies with renewal dates and escalation terms, insurance submissions and quotes with the replacement cost valuation behind the § 82.111(a) coverage floor, the reserve study and its funding plan alternatives, three years of collection history, and workshop minutes.

Assemble it as you go, because budget season generates records requests. Under § 209.005(c) and (d) the books and records including financial records are open to owners, who may designate an agent, attorney, or certified public accountant in writing, and that right applies notwithstanding a contrary dedicatory instrument.

Under § 209.005(e) a written request sent by certified mail to the address on the current management certificate starts a ten business day clock to provide inspection dates or copies, and § 209.005(f) requires written notice setting a date by the fifteenth business day if the association cannot meet the first. Section 209.005(i) requires a recorded production and copying cost policy before charging anything, and charges may not exceed the rates in 1 T.A.C. § 70.3.

Give whatever meeting notice the dedicatory instruments require. Present the changes, take questions, then move to adopt. Record the vote and the substance of the discussion in the minutes.

Record the budget calendar itself as a board policy the first time you adopt one. That single artifact does more for continuity in a Texas association than any other document the board produces in budget season, because it survives turnover in a way that habit does not.

Under § 82.112(a) the assessment has to rest on a budget adopted at least annually, so the minutes recording the adoption are the evidence that the assessment is properly grounded.

Publish the new rate and the date it starts. Update coupon books, payment instructions, and autopay authorizations before the first billing period, or owners on automatic payments will underpay through no fault of their own.

Refresh the resale certificate inputs. Under § 82.157(a) the certificate states the current operating budget, the periodic assessment, unpaid common expenses or special assessments, reserves, and capital expenditures approved for the next twelve months, and § 82.157(b) gives the association ten days from a written request to furnish it.

If the manager, the association's address, or a transfer fee changed as part of budget season, record an amended management certificate within thirty days of notice of the change and file it electronically with the state within seven days of recording, under § 209.004(b) and (b-1).