By Ted AYALA

The City of Glendale’s Finance Dept. received a coveted distinction earlier this week. The California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) conferred upon the city its Operating Budget Excellence Award. The award was presented to the city for its fiscal year 2014 –15 budget.

According to Justin Lewis, representative of the CSMFO, the organization has been operating for over four decades.

A press release issued by the city earlier this week called the CSMFO “California’s premier statewide association for finance professionals.”

“The CSMFO seeks to improve the knowledge, skills, and performance of individuals responsible for municipal and other local government fiscal policy and management,” the release stated.

This is the fifth consecutive year that the city has been won the award.

An “impartial review,” according to the CSMFO, takes place to determine the recipient of their budget award.

“The CSMFO budget awards program is designed to recognize those agencies whose budget documents meet certain state-wide standards and requirement considered to be of the highest quality,” the city’s press release stated. “The standards that must be met are (1) minimum scoring of 50 points (out of 80) in the Excellence in Budgeting section and (2) a scoring of 20 (out of 20) for a Meritorious Budget section. Fiscal year 2014-15’s budget [meets] these standards.”

According to Tom Lorenz, the city’s director of
Communications and Community Relations, Glendale is “very honored” to have earned the distinction. He noted that the Glendale City Council will formally recognize the award and the Finance Dept. at a future council meeting date yet to be determined.

  Ted Ayala