WEST COVINA, CA, January 18, 2023 – The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) has presented the City of West Covina with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget. This achievement reflects the City’s ongoing commitment to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.
The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting. The program is open to submissions from any type of government at either the state or local level that makes available to the general public an operating budget document.
In order to receive the prestigious award, the City had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. Budget review guidelines are designed to assess how well the budget document serves as: 1) a policy document, 2) a financial plan, 3) an operations guide, and 4) a communications guide. To achieve the GFOA budget award, the budget document must be rated by the GFOA as “proficient” in all four of those categories, and in the 14 mandatory criteria identified within those categories.
Award recipients, like the City, have consistently pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.
“We continue to prioritize our financial transparency through the Transparency page on our website, which provides our residents easy access to the City’s budget and financial information for the current fiscal year, as well as a historical view of previous years,” stated Mayor Rosario Diaz. “Our Finance Director, Stephanie Sikkema, and staff continue to strive for transparency and excellence to ensure our residents that their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent wisely and cautiously,” stated City Manager David Carmany.
The GFOA advances excellence in government finance by providing best practices, professional development, resources and practical research for more than 20,500 members and the communities they serve. For additional information visit their website at www.gfoa.org.
Distinguished Budget Presentation Award Program
GFOA established the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program (Budget Awards Program) in 1984 to encourage and assist state and local governments to prepare budget documents of the very highest quality that reflect both the guidelines established by the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting and the GFOA’s best practices on budgeting and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. Approximately 1,800 governments, including states, cities, counties, special districts, school districts, and more have been recognized for transparency in budgeting. To earn recognition, budget documents must meet program criteria and excel as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communication tool.
GFOA congratulates all budget award winners for preparing high-quality budget documents that meet program criteria and striving to improve budget transparency in their community. Each year, over 1,700 governments receive the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. All award winning submissions are available for download on GFOA’s website.