Based on examination of the County's FY 2019 Budget document by a panel of independent peer reviewers, the County has been awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). This award is the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting. In order to receive the award, the County's budget document had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well the budget document serves as a policy document; financial plan; operations guide; and communications device. Budget documents must be rated at least "proficient" in all four categories and in the 14 mandatory criteria (award criteria attached) within those categories to receive the award.
This is the 23rd year that the County's budget has been awarded the GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, and is the second time the budget has received the Special Capital Recognition. Such special recognition is awarded when the capital projects portion of the budget document is rated "outstanding" by each member of the review panel. In FY 2017 (the most recent year for which full data is available), of the 1,623 governments in the United States and Canada who were awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, only 13 (0.8%) achieved the Special Capital Recognition.
The Budget staff spends significant time calculating, writing and fine-tuning the annual budget document. We continually look for ways to make the material more easily understood, current, relevant, and informative. We could not prepare the annual budget document without the information and assistance provided by staff members in every other office and department throughout the organization, as well as the information received from and action taken by the Board of Supervisors. This achievement is a credit to all who are involved in the annual budget process and is certainly aligned with the County's values of accountability, integrity, service, and transparency.