Budgets and the Budget Drafter

An annual budget is one of a volunteer board's heaviest lifts — hours of spreadsheet work, usually the treasurer's weekend. AI HOA's Budget Drafter exists to take most of that weight.

Where to find it

In the dashboard sidebar, open AI Workforce → Budget Drafter. It works like a conversation: tell it what you want ("draft next year's budget", "project a 5% insurance increase", "what happens to dues if we repave in 2027"), and it works from your community's actual records.

What it does

The Budget Drafter:

• Pulls your prior-year actuals and recurring obligations from the community's financial records.
• Projects line items forward, flagging assumptions it made so you can challenge them.
• Formats the result as a draft budget the board can discuss line by line.

Like every AI HOA agent, it drafts — it does not decide. The output is a proposal for the board; nothing is adopted, published, or billed because the AI produced it. Treat it like a very fast first draft from a diligent assistant: review the assumptions, adjust the judgment calls, and the board votes as it always has.

What's honest about the Budget page

You'll notice the sidebar also shows Financials → Budget. That page is a placeholder today — the dedicated budget-management surface (adopting a budget, tracking actuals against it through the year) ships in a later phase. Right now the Budget Drafter conversation is the working tool, and its drafts live in that conversation and in the documents you export from it.

Tips for a better draft

• Feed it context. The more of your financial history and governing documents are in the platform, the less the drafter has to guess.
• Ask for scenarios. "Show me this budget with and without a $15 dues increase" is exactly the kind of comparison it is good at.
• Interrogate assumptions. Ask "what did you assume about utilities?" — it will tell you, and you can correct it.

Budget adoption itself often has requirements in your governing documents (notice, member vote, quorum). Check yours before finalizing. This is general information, not legal advice — consult an attorney for your specific situation.