CITY OF LOS ANGELES
INTER-DEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE
Date: December 22, 2009
To: The Council
From:
~
Miguel A. Santana, City Administrative Officer
Subject: DISTINGUISHED BUDGET PRESENTATION AWARD FOR 2009-10
The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award to the City of Los Angeles for the 13th consecutive year for our 2009-10 annual budget. We are the largest city in the United States to receive this award.
This award is the highest form of recognition in government budgeting and
represents a significant achievement by the City of Los Angeles. To receive this award, the City must publish a budget document of the very highest quality that reflects both the guidelines established by the National Advisory Council on State and Local Budgeting and the GFOA’s recommended practices on budgeting. The City budget must meet mandatory GFOA criteria as a policy document, as an operations guide, as a financial plan and as a communications device. It reflects the commitment of the City to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.
A Certificate of Recognition has been received and an award plaque has been
presented to the City. A copy of the certificate will be published in the 2010-11 budget
document.
We will continue to improve our budget documents and will submit the 2010-11
budget to GFOA for consideration for next year’s awards program.
Those awards have been around as long as there’s been a GFOA (which I think was formerly M[unicipal]FOA).
If you look into this a bit, what it means is the thing LOOKS professional and the rows and columns foot.
The award has nothing to do with sound, prudent financial decisions.
Good thing, eh?
WTF????? This has to be an April Fools Joke right? C’mon Ron now you’re making me hysterical. Is this for real? It can’t be.
You forgot Bruno’s picture. This has got to be satire.
I guess this is another of the fairy tales.
I forgot where I heard this, but it’s so fitting here: “The only time they opened their mouths was to change feet.”
“The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA)”. DECERTIFY this joke of an organization.
Someone needs to call where ever this company city is in and tell the local newspaper what a joke they are. Someone in city hall said the award is only for the actual budget document set up not for the budget numbers. Give me a f–king break. They should get anything with the mess they have made in our city. I would love to be at the meeting this afternoon when this is discussed. How could you not sit there and laugh?
Aw come on…by nice!
Not only does it look professional and the rows and columns foot, the Caligraphy surely rocks…
I wonder what the city spent on the entry fee for this non-award?
It went to the Budget & Finance Committee today to be presented. Does it now go before the full council for a vote? Did they put out a press release on this award? You know how they all love photo ops where is the media on it?
This craze for awards, must be in LA genes with the Oscars, Grammys etc., which were designed to make you part with your money by seeing more movies or buying more records. However, it makes no sense when carried to serious business like budgets that are a failure or LA planning, an even bigger failure that nevertheless, continues to win the American Planning Association (APA) awards for disasters like SB1818 local ordinance that was thrown out by the Courts, and so forth. The Mayor and Garcetti actually had a photo opp on a ridiculous APA award for Echo Park being among the ten best neighborhoods for the year 2008.
We need to get over winning awards and seeing the reality for what it is. A disaster budget headed towards bankruptcy and a city on the verge of falling into the Third World.
Birds of a feather. Incompetence is relative.
“It reflects the commitment of the City to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.”
‘Looks to me like this is a coalition of budget writing city workers patting each other on the back. I haven’t read the budget report to agree or disagree.
In the event that the budget written is accurate and reasonable (a big “if”), I’d be more concerned about our elected officials’ failure to adopt and implement it.
Here is the Executive Director and CEO of the GFOA phone numbers and email:
http://www.gfoa.org/index.php?option=com_contact&task=view&contact_id=19&Itemid=3
I think someone should give him a call tell him what we really think.
“It reflects the commitment of the City to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.”
Ron, I really needed this laugh right now. When was it that the city actually began to stray from a balanced budget? When did the city know how deep of trouble we were in on our budget?
Jan Perry keeps saying they knew almost two years ago.
Can we please ask them to send back the awards for the last two years, and submit our real budget to these awards people?
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