This award, presented by the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada, recognizes the Camden County Finance & Budget Department’s work on the annual budget for the fiscal year 2019-2020, beginning July 1, 2019.
The award represents a noteworthy achievement by Camden County as it reflects the commitment of the Board of Commissioners and staff to meet the highest principles of government budgeting. Nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation had to be fulfilled in order for Camden County to receive this budget award. These guidelines are designed to assess how well Camden County’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, including the fourteen mandatory criteria within those categories, to receive the award.
“Our Finance & Budget Department, led by Chief Financial Officer Nancy Gonzalez, does a wonderful job in preparing our annual budget,” said County Administrator Steve Howard. “We are very proud of the Finance & Budget Department receiving this well-deserved recognition.”
GFOA established the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program 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. Documents submitted to the Budget Awards Program are reviewed by selected members of the GFOA professional staff and by outside reviewers with experience in public-sector budgeting.
This award follows Camden County’s recognition from GFOA for the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). Camden County received a Certificate of Achievement in October 2019 for the CAFR for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018. Additionally, in January 2020 Camden County’s auditors, Clifton, Lipford, Hardison & Parker, LLC, issued a “clean” audit report for FY2019 with no findings.