FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For the eighth year in a row, the City of Springfield Finance Department has received the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation award for its budget. The GFOA is a professional organization servicing the needs of 18,300 appointed and elected local, state and provincial-level government officials and finance practitioners. In order to receive the budget award, the City had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well the City’s budget serves as a policy document, financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device. There are four areas and a total of 35 criteria upon which the document is rated. In order to receive the award, budgets must be rated "proficient" in all four categories, and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories in order to receive the award. For the City’s FY 2015 document, 10 criteria were ranked "outstanding," the highest level of achievement. # # # For more information, contact: Cora Scott, Director of Public Information & Civic Engagement, 417-864-1009 (office) | 417-380-3352 (cell), [email protected]