City Budget Receives Prestigious Award

The City of Portsmouth’s budget document has received the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting for the seventh consecutive year, City Manager John Bohenko announced.

In conferring its Distinguished Budget Document Presentation Award upon the City’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget document for the period beginning July 1, 2012, the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) said the honor “reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of government reporting.”

“This award, Portsmouth’s seventh consecutive recognition, is a significant factor in enabling users of our budget document to have a clear and understandable resource during the budget process,” Bohenko said.

Finance Director Judie Belanger noted GFOA gave the City’s budget document high marks based on 27 nationally recognized criteria, with reviewers commenting on how easy it was to read and understand.

According to GFOA, “Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.”

Belanger said it is gratifying to once again receive national recognition with such a prestigious award honoring the commitment of the City Council and City staff to “meet and exceed national budgeting standards.” 

The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program, established in 1984, recognizes exemplary budget documentation by state, provincial and local governments, as well as public universities and colleges. GFOA is comprised of 17,400 government finance professionals throughout North America.

In 2006, Portsmouth became the first New Hampshire municipality to receive the prestigious national budgeting recognition.

Submitted by Pat Remick, City of Portsmouth