By By JOHN EBY / Cassopolis Vigilant
CASSOPOLIS -- Cass County's budget received the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA)'s "Distinguished Budget Presentation Award."
According to the GFOA, the award represents a significant achievement by an entity. It reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.
To receive the budget award, Cass County had to satisfy nationally-recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelins are designed to assess how well an entity's budget serves as:
Budget documents must rate "proficient" in all four categories to qualify for the award.
When a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award is granted to an entity, a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation is also present to the individual or department designed as being primarily responsible for it achieving the award -- in this case, Proctor, Murphy and Myer.
Since the inception of the GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program in 1984, approximately 900 entities have received the award. Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and to provide an excellent example for other goverments throughout North America.
The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving 14,000 government finance professionals throughout North America.
The GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.