This is a common question that many associations ask. There is not a simple yes or no answer and the answer will vary for individual associations. Each association has different amounts of landscaping and the money to maintain should be collected through either the operating and/or reserve budget. A general rule is that expenses that occur regularly on an annual basis should be included in the operating budget. Expenses that don’t occur every year should be included in the reserve budget and reserve study. For example if one association trims their trees every year they should include this in their operating budget. If another association trims their trees every three years they should include this in their reserve budget. Another association may do some trimming of small trees every year and may have a major expense of trimming large trees every 3 years. In this case they should fund for tree trimming in both their operating and reserve budget. Another example is most associations have a monthly landscape contract that is funded through the operating budget. In addition to that they may also want to include funding in their reserve study for major landscape upgrades and replacements every 5 or 10 years. The bottom line is that each association should work with their landscaping company and reserve study provider to try to predict what their future landscaping/irrigation costs will be and then make sure that these costs are included in their reserve and/or operating budget.