The City of Irvine has been awarded the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 27th consecutive year. The award, which recognizes the City’s budgetary achievements for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2019, represents the highest form of recognition in government budgeting for a municipal entity.
The award is a significant achievement by the City. It reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. In order to receive the budget award, the City had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity’s budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device. Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories, and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories, to receive the award.
There are more than 1,600 participants in the Budget Awards Program. The most recent Budget Award recipients, along with their corresponding budget documents, are posted quarterly on GFOA’s website. Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America. The Government Finance Officers Association is a nonprofit professional association serving more than 19,000 government finance professionals throughout North America.
This award comes just one year after the City of Irvine moved to a two-year budget in the context of a comprehensive five-year financial plan. In addition, the City received the Operating Budget Excellence Award for Fiscal Year 2019-2020 from the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers, demonstrating the highest professional standard for Operating Budgets. In order to receive this award, the City had to meet criteria regarding the accuracy, organization, detail, controls, measures, and analysis of the information included in the budget. This is the 24th consecutive year the City has received this honor.