The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada announced the City of Murfreesboro has received the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal year 2012 budget.

It is the first time the City has won the prestigious award.

The award represents a significant achievement by the City. It reflects the commitment of the government 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
• 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 is also presented to the individual or department designated as being primarily responsible for its having achieved the award.

“We sought this award because its criteria were going to improve the presentation to the City Council and community about the work and finances of the City,” City Manager Rob Lyons said. “In addition to the spreadsheets containing the budget amounts, we added departmental accomplishments, goals for the upcoming year and data about the City to help the reader learn more about their government.

“The FY 12 proposed budget continues to fund city services that will meet the needs of our residents and businesses,” he continued. “It continues its focus on those goals established by City Council:

• safe and livable neighborhoods
• strong and sustainable economic and financial health
• excellent services with a focus on customer service
• engaging our community

“Civic Engagement is a new goal for this year even though we’ve been very active in it, he said. “We want to work hard to ensure that we are communicating with our residents and providing opportunities for input and dialogue.”

A copy of the budget is available on the City website’s home page (www.murfreesborotn.gov) and by hovering over the Open Government tab in the navigation bar to the left and clicking on Current Budget.

“A huge thank you goes to Melissa Wright, Erin Tucker and other members of the team in the City’s Finance Department for the quality and attention with which they worked on the budget,” said Murfreesboro Assistant City Manager Jim Crumley. “Normally, it takes three years of continuous improvement on the Budget document to qualify for the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.

Murfreesboro’s budget qualified in only two years thanks to the knowledge and professionalism of the Finance staff, he said.

For budgets including fiscal period 2010, over 1,289 entities received 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 nearly 17,400 government finance professionals throughout North America. The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.