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6 <br /> Government Finance Officers Association <br /> Budget Presentation Awards Program <br /> Orange County, NC (FY2019-20) <br /> The Budget as a Policy Document: <br /> Great early placement of the mission statement. The budget message includes a thorough overview of what <br /> is included in the budget and some issues that are influencing the budget. Expand the discussion of <br /> organizational priorities and long-term vision to include context of goals, expectations, and definition of <br /> success, i.e. how citizens are to recognize progress. Clearly and specifically link some budget decisions to the <br /> priorities being supported so readers less familiar can better understand how the budget is developed to <br /> support the organization and community goals. Great integration of goal setting and capital and long-range <br /> planning into the budget process and the calendar. Detailed financial policies. <br /> The Budget as a Financial Plan: <br /> Good revenue descriptions and graphs. Be sure to explain bases of revenue projections and factors <br /> influencing major revenue sources to go up or down especially for the budgeted estimates. Good discussion <br /> of fund balance changes on page 59. Great capital project descriptions and acknowledgement of operating <br /> impact. Check the operating impact analysis as extending service facilities, adding facilities, or even replacing <br /> equipment will have some type of impact on maintenance even if it is difficult to quantify. Long Range plans <br /> need to include projections of revenues and expenditures for future years and make note of significant <br /> capital, operating, debt, legislative, regulatory, development issues and changes anticipated as well as the <br /> process and assumptions for how plans are developed. Work to develop a comprehensive and cohesive <br /> summary of plans and link to a 3-5 year financial forecast including revenue and expenditures estimates by <br /> category. Include discussion of how forecasts are affected by or affect the budget and other plans and issues <br /> as well as the implications for current and future budgets and operations. <br /> The Budget as an Operations Guide: <br /> Good use of color coding on the organizational chart to illustrate reporting relationships. Chart on page 29 <br /> uses fund by function to illustrate the relationship between accounting and operating structures. Clearly link <br /> some unit goals or key projects with organization-wide goals. Be careful of using jargon or assuming the <br /> reader knows any specifics about the department and avoid using duty or task lists or generic statements as <br /> goals. Continue to develop a good blend of performance measure types including efficiency, effectiveness, <br /> input, and output measures; clearly state what is being measured and the desired outcomes so readers know <br /> which direction the related performance measures should be going. <br /> The Budget as Communications Device: <br /> Be careful using tiny print, especially in charts and embedded images; copy quality may be affected, or the <br /> information rendered ineffective. Continue to integrate some more complex acronyms with brief definitions <br /> into the glossary. <br /> R931—02/2020 <br />