The Pinellas County government budget took center stage during the July 19 regularly-scheduled Board of County Commissioners meeting, as county staff presented the proposed FY17 budget and received a national-level award for the county’s FY16 budget document.
The proposed FY17 overall budget is $2,185,397,210 and captures proposed budgets for all of Pinellas County Commission governmental and enterprise services, constitutional officers and other services including fire districts and court support. Citizens may review the proposed budget document online. Moving forward, the Board will hold budget information sessions and public hearings over the next two months in preparation for adoption of the FY17 budget and property tax rates on Sept. 27.
Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Commission Chairman Charlie Justice presented the county’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for the presentation of the county’s 2016 budget document. This is the 12th consecutive year that Pinellas has earned the award.
“The Distinguished Budget Presentation Award represents a significant achievement by the county,” said Bill Berger, OMB director. “It reflects the commitment of the Board of County Commissioners and our staff to be transparent in presenting our budget, to follow best practices in governmental budgeting and, ultimately, to be responsible stewards of the public’s resources.”
To receive the budget award, the Office of Management and Budget had to fulfill nationally-recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. The guidelines assess how well the budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device.
This accomplishment underscores a component of the strategic plan to be responsible stewards of the public’s resources, which includes ensuring the financial stability of the county.
The GFOA established the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program (Budget Awards Program) in 1984 to encourage and assist state and local governments to prepare budget documents of the very highest quality that reflect both the guidelines established by the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting and the GFOA’s best practices on budgeting. Documents submitted to the Budget Awards Program are reviewed by selected members of the GFOA professional staff and by outside reviewers with experience in public-sector budgeting.