Mayor Jeff Porter took time at the Special Council Presentations on July 26, 2017, to recognize an extraordinary achievement of the City of Homestead’s Finance Department: Winning the prestigious Distinguished Budget Presentation Award by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) for Fiscal Year 2016, for the 10th year in a row. This Award is given to governments and staff whose budget presentations reach nationally recognized standards of effective budget presentations, which includes how well the presentation serves as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide and communications device.
Mayor Porter invited Carlos Perez, director of Homestead’s Finance Department, to come forward to talk about the work involved with developing the city’s budget and why it was so meaningful to win the award for 10 consecutive years.
While acknowledging that it was gratifying to receive the award, Perez noted that putting Homestead’s budget together entailed a lot of hard work on everyone’s part. “Actually, the budget process is a long process and it’s very involved. It’s a citywide effort and includes the Council and all of the [City of Homestead’s] departments.”
He continued, “The details and the elements that are put into the report by my staff — Denise Santana and Christi Vizcaino are what make it an award-winning report recognized by the Government Finance Officers Association. That it’s been awarded to the city for several years reflects that we continue to put forward that element of detail and that high level of performance.”
Presenting Perez with a special plaque that was designed to accommodate multiple years of recognition for the award, Mayor Porter joked, saying, “You just have this plaque with all these extra places for more years of high honors. We’ve got a lot more slots to fill up here.”
He added, “Carlos, you and your team do a great job. The City’s really moving and a lot of responsibility is put on you and your team to make sure we pay those bills that the Mayor and the Council write checks for.”
The GFOA, founded in 1906, represents public finance officials throughout the United States and Canada. The association's nearly 18,000 members are federal, state and local finance officials deeply involved in planning, financing and implementing thousands of governmental operations in each of their jurisdictions. The GFOA's mission is to enhance and promote the professional management of governmental financial resources by identifying, developing and advancing fiscal strategies, policies and practices for the public benefit.
For more information on the GFOA, please visit: www.gfoa.org