Poudre Fire Authority receives accolades for effective budget presentation

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada is announced Aug. 27 that Poudre Fire Authority and Ann Turnquist, PFA’s administrative services director, were recipients of the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for an outstanding budget document.

The award represents a significant achievement by the organization and reflects the commitment of PFA’s governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. In order to receive the budget award, PFA 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
■ a communications device.

Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories, and the fourteen mandatory criteria within those categories, to receive the award. When a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award is granted to an entity, a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation is also presented to the individual or department designated as being primarily responsible for its having achieved the award.

For budgets including fiscal period 2012, over 1,340 entities are expected to receive the award. 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 over 17,800 government finance professionals throughout North America.

The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting