Numbers don’t lie: Finance is a winner
Published 8:15 am Friday, August 3, 2018
Finish last long enough, and second from the bottom seems a mighty improvement. “Average” might seem a pipedream.
And “upper tier?” Well, that might be the province of other competitors.
But Port Arthur’s Finance Department made the worst-to-first trek in short order — a single year.
Well, maybe not first, but at least in the upper echelon among finance departments for its annual budget presentation to city government. There’s been serious improvement.
Andrew Vasquez, Port Arthur finance director, made the announcement to the City Council this week that the city earned the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its Fiscal Year 2018 city budget document.
“The whole department is proud,” Vasquez said. “The whole city should be.”
The award is presented by the Government Finance Officers Association, which is Chicago-based and includes membership from the U.S. and Canada. The organization’s roots stretch back to 1906, and it has evolved over the last 112 years into a premier organization for government accounting standards. It has more than 19,000 state, provincial and local government finance officers in North America. Its annual meeting attracts some 5,000 government finance professionals.
This was the first time Port Arthur has earned that designation.
“I think people are going to notice it’s our first time,” he said. They already have.
See for yourself: Port Arthur’s achievement is listed between those of Poquoson, Virginia and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Vasquez joined Port Arthur government last autumn. Previously, he worked in Houston. He came aboard while the city was under water, trying to hold its head up after the ravages of Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey.
The award is granted for budget presentations that satisfy “nationally recognized guidelines for effective presentation,” and the successful budget document followed three consecutive years when the city failed to present a budget on time.
Vasquez credited Kandy Daniel and Harold Hankins, assistant finance directors, for their efforts on the project, which laid out a budget for the city beginning Oct. 1. The GFOA, in notifying Port Arthur of the award, said, “In order to receive this award, a governmental unit must publish a budget document that meets program criteria as a policy document, as a financial plan, as an operations guide, and as a communications device.” Check, check, check and check.
Not only was Port Arthur proficient in all four areas, but also in 14 mandatory standards within those categories. Vasquez said Port Arthur might have done even better with flashier graphics, but that would have been too expensive. That seems like a wholly appropriate position for a finance director to take.
We salute the city and its Finance Department for this achievement. They have served Port Arthur and its people well.