New Kent’s Financial Services earns national award

New Kent County’s five-employee Financial Services Department has received the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.

The New Kent department won the award for its fiscal year 2012 budget presentation. To receive the award, budgets must be rated “proficient” in four categories — how well a budget serves as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communications device — as well as 14 mandatory criteria within those categories.

“This award represents a significant achievement by the county,” said county administrator Rodney Hathaway in a press release. “It reflects the commitment of financial services staff to meeting what I understand is the highest principles of governmental budgeting.”

With the award comes a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation presented to the department’s employees. New Kent is one of 1,328 departments in the U.S. and Canada winning awards. Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide excellent examples for other local governments.

The association is a nonprofit group serving over 17,500 government financial professionals. The awards program is the only national program for governmental budgeting.