The Village of Villa Park has received the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal year 2017 annual budget. This is the 25th consecutive year that Villa Park has achieved this recognition.

According to GFOA, the award “…represents a significant achievement by the Village, and reflects the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.”

The Certificate of Recognition for Budget Presentation was presented to Villa Park Finance Director Kevin Wachtel. “I commend Kevin and the Finance Department for their hard work in ensuring our budgeting process always runs smoothly and effectively,” says Villa Park Village President Al Bulthuis. “We are one of only 133 government entities in Illinois—out of over 7,000—to achieve this recognition annually.”

“Additionally, the Village annually receives GFOA’s Audit award. Only 110 Illinois governments won both awards this past year.”

In winning the awards, the Village had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity's budget serves as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communications device. Villa Park’s budget documents were rated “proficient” in all four of these categories, and within fourteen mandatory criteria within the categories.

There are over 1,600 participants in GFOA’s Budget Awards Program. The most recent Budget Award recipients, along  with  their  corresponding  budget  documents,  are  posted  quarterly at www.gfoa.org. GFOA notes that “…award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America.”