Town Wins National Award for Its Fiscal 2018 Budget

The town of Ashland recently received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for its fiscal year 2018 budget.
GFOA is a professional association servicing nearly 19,000 appointed and elected local, state and provincial-level government officials and other finance practitioners in the United States and Canada. The association is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with offices in Washington, D.C. The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.
According to the GFOA, the award represents a significant achievement for the town. It reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. In order to receive the budget award, Ashland had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective 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.
“The award is for the budget document itself, but the underlying principle is that to have an outstanding budget document, you need to have a thorough and participatory process to create that budget,” Michael Herbert, Ashland’s town manager, explained. “It looks at the financial picture as a whole and not just within the context of the proposed fiscal year.”
“This award, and meeting its rigorous standards, is a testament to our commitment to providing residents and taxpayers complete, accurate and transparent information about the town’s finances and financial policies and goals,” Herbert said. “It is a testament to the hard work of our finance staff and everyone involved in the budget process.”
The GFOA also presented Finance Director Brittany Iacaponi with a Certificate of Recognition for Budget Preparation. This recognition acknowledges the work of that person or department designated as primarily responsible for achieving the award.
“I hired Brittany in early 2015 as our town accountant when I was serving as the Assistant Town Manager/Finance Director,” Herbert said. “When I was promoted in January 2016 to Town Manager, I knew I had a good handle on the finances and really needed an assistant town manager that had a different set of skills than I have, and therefore made the decision to add the finance director responsibilities to Brittany. She is a whiz with numbers and can put together very thorough, clear and detailed information to staff, Selectmen/FinCom and the general public. That gives me the ability to concentrate on the strategic financial initiatives and policies, which has always been my strong suit. She has done a tremendous job in a very short time. I am really proud of her.”
Last year, only 20 municipalities in Massachusetts received the award, out of 351 cities and towns, putting Ashland in an elite group of communities. Only 1,612 communities, school districts and special districts in the United States and Canada have received the award.