"I am pleased to notify you that the County of Catawba has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award," GFOA Executive Director Jeffrey L. Esser said in a letter to the County. "This award is the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting and represents a significant achievement by your organization."

The award is presented to governmental units which, according to the GFOA, "reflect the commitment of the governing body and staff to meet the highest principles of governmental budgeting." In order to receive the award, Catawba County’s Budget Office had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well a government's budget serves as:

• a policy document
• a financial plan
• an operations guide
• a communications device

Budget documents must be rated "proficient" in all four of these categories to receive the award.

“Catawba County was one of the first in the State of North Carolina to apply for and receive this award twenty-one years ago,” said Jennifer Mace, the County’s Budget Manager. “Although receiving this award is not new for us, it’s not something we take for granted. Each year, the GFOA’s award review committee makes recommendations for improvements to our document so we must weigh these recommendations against our goal of providing useful information for the general public that is easily understood. It’s an ongoing process of constant change and improvement.  I'm proud to continue this great history of receiving the award in my first year as Budget Manager.”

Catawba County's annual budget is created through a year-long planning process involving department heads, the Budget Staff, County Manager Tom Lundy and the Board of Commissioners. The Budget Staff for this budget included Mace and Katrina Hawkins, Budget Analyst I, with assistance from Jonathan Greer, who is now working with the County’s Utilities and Engineering Office and Creighton Avila, who now works for the Guilford County (NC) Budget Office.

The Government Finance Officers Association is a non-profit professional association serving more than 17,000 government finance professionals throughout North America. Since the inception of the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award in 1984, more than 900 governments across the United States have received the honor, but fewer than 3% have won the award for twenty or more years in a row.