WRD Garners Top North America Government Finance Officers Association Award

LAKEWOOD, Calif., March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) has received notification by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) that it was awarded GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal year 2011-12 budget.

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This award is the highest recognition in governmental budgeting from the GFOA and represents a significant new award for WRD.

In order to receive this prestigious budget award, WRD satisfied nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These stringent guidelines are designed to assess how well an organization's budget serves as:

• A policy document
• A financial plan
• An operations guide
• 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.

Since 2005, WRD's Finance Department has garnered more than 17 national and state awards for its exceptional finance and budgetary practices.

In an effort to increase the District's financial transparency and public accountability, the WRD Board of Directors approved the establishment of the District's Audit & Budget Advisory Committee (ABAC). As a direct result of this Board action, WRD has further increased its financial accountability and transparency with the public, as well as having its efforts recognized by the highly regarded GFOA.

"This award is recognition of WRD's sound and prudent budgetary practices," said Albert Robles, President of WRD. "It exemplifies the District's efforts in providing the public with greater transparency and clarity in financial documentation."

For budgets including fiscal period 2010, more than 1,250 entities received this honor and only 15 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.

WRD is very proud of the way we go about our rate-setting and budget process. In the last seven years, we have won 17 awards from state and national public finance associations for the clarity of our financial documents and transparency of our budgeting process. We are one of only 5 water districts in the entire state to receive the Distinguished Budget Award from the Government Finance Officers Association and the Excellence in Budgeting Award from the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers.

Today WRD kicked off its public budget workshops at its headquarters in Lakewood. For more information on future workshops go to: http://www.wrd.org/120309_budget_workshop_01.pdf  

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