The City of Suffolk Finance Department’s Budget & Strategic Planning Division has been awarded a Distinguished Budget Presentation Award by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for the ninth straight year.

The award reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting, according to a city press release.

In order to receive this award, the city had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines assess how well the budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device. Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in all four categories and the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories to receive the award.

The Government Finance Officers Association is a major professional association servicing the needs of more than 19,000 appointed and elected local, state and provincial-level government officials and other finance practitioners. The association established the Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program in 1984 to encourage and assist state and local governments to prepare budget documents of the 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 and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal.

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.