WRD Receives Top North America Government Finance Officers Association Award

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Water Replenishment District of Southern California

Jan 20, 2012, 01:24 ET

LAKEWOOD, Calif., Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In recognition of its comprehensive and transparent budget process, the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) the GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.

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"WRD is honored to receive this prestigious award recognizing our agency's rigorous and prudent budgetary practices," stated WRD Board President Sergio Calderon. "We strive to develop and implement the best fiscal oversight possible and are proud to be recognized for our hard work."

This award recognizes the highest achievements in governmental budgeting from the GFOA and reflects WRD's unwavering commitment to sound fiscal practices. For the past 7 consecutive years, WRD was awarded the prestigious California Society of Municipal Finance Officers (CSMFO) Meritorious Award for Excellence budget document and process.

The prestigious GFOA budget award is based on nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget development, documentation and public presentation. These rigorous guidelines are designed to assess how well a public agency's budget delivers:

A policy document
A financial plan
An operations guide
A communications device

Budget documents are rated across the four categories and fourteen mandatory criteria within those categories. Since 2005, WRD's Finance Department has garnered more than 14 national and state awards for its exceptional finance and budgetary practices.

"This award truly reflects an ongoing commitment to continually raise the bar," said WRD Board Treasurer Albert Robles. "It exemplifies the District's efforts in providing the public with greater transparency and clarity in our budgeting process."

For budgets including fiscal period 2010, only fifteen out of over three hundred water districts in California were recognized by the GFOA. Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.

The Government Finance Officers Association is a nonprofit professional organization serving more than 17,000 government finance professionals throughout North America. The GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.

In the District's continuing commitment to fiscal transparency and accountability, in the Fall of 2011, the Board established the WRD Audit and Budget Advisory Committee (ABAC). Members of this Committee will be WRD stakeholders. This Committee was established so the Board could receive input directly from its stakeholder community relating to the two most important financial functions of the District: the annual independent audit and budget process for WRD.

The Water Replenishment District of Southern California is the regional groundwater management agency that protects and preserves the quantity and quality of groundwater for two of the most utilized urban basins in the State of California. The service area is home to over ten percent of California's population residing in 43 cities in southern Los Angeles County. WRD is governed by a publicly elected Board of Directors which includes Willard H. Murray, Jr., Robert Katherman, Lillian Kawasaki, Sergio Calderon, and Albert Robles.

For more information, please visit WRD at www.wrd.org

SOURCE Water Replenishment District of Southern California