Clay County Receives Budget Award

For the first time, Clay County has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for its 2022 budget. The award is a significant achievement and reflects the commitment of Clay County to professionalism and transparency.

The whole purpose of the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award is to make government finances more easily understandable and digestible for the citizens - Clay County Auditor Victor Hurlbert

In order to receive the award, Clay County had to satisfy nationally-recognized guidelines for 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 in the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories to receive the award.  Three anonymous reviewers scrutinized the documents submitted by the Clay County Budget Team, and they determined the presentation met those standards.

"The whole purpose of the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award is to make government finances more easily understandable and digestible for the citizens," said Clay County Auditor Victor Hurlbert.  "For the budget, you have the auditor's office and the administrator working together, and I think we're only going to continue to improve with our new administrator and budget officer."

In addition to the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award," the Clay County Budget Team received a Certificate of Recognition for its presentation.

There are more than 1,700 participants in the GFOA Budget Awards Program.  The most recent award recipients and their corresponding budget documents are posted quarterly on GFOA's website, www.gfoa.org.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story