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I n s i d e Arden Hills, MN . 55112-5734 ECR-WSS PRST STD U.S. Postage Paid Twin Cities, MN Permit #1962 Postal Customer Program) to encourage and assist state and local governments to prepare budget documents of the very highest quality that refl ect 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. The criteria require that they be easily understandable to the general public and other interested parties without a background in public fi nance and clearly show the issues the government entity is dealing with, its policies, the budget process, opportunities for public input, and facts about the entity itself. It serves as a policy document, a fi nancial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device. This is the eighth consecutive year the City has received this award (2009 – 2016). Ctizens and taxpayers can be proud; only a small number of other cities in Minnesota have received all three of these awards. Regards, William S. Joynes, Sr., City Administrator From the City AdministratorIt is that time of year again, summer is in full swing, the annual audit has wrapped up, budgets are being drafted, but we still have some celebrating to do for past performance. At the June 26, 2017, regular City Council meeting, a represen- tative from the Minnesota Government Finance Offi cers Association (MnGFOA) presented the City with three awards from the Government Finance Offi cers Asso- ciation (GFOA) which represents public fi nance offi cials throughout the United States and Canada. (Only eight of 864 Minnesota cities received all three awards.) The GFOA’s mission is to enhance and promote the professional management of governmental fi nancial resources by iden- tifying, developing, and advancing fi scal strategies, policies, and practices for the public benefi t. The GFOA has established several highly regarded professional recognition pro- grams to encourage and assist state and local governments to improve the quality of their fi nancial management and to rec- ognize their achievement. I am pleased to announce that the City of Arden Hills has again received all three awards. Receiving these awards is important because it demonstrates that outside agen- cies regard our budgeting and reporting functions as effective, and the publishing of the information as transparent to those who want to understand how our funds are spent. Winning these awards also helps the City to maintain its AA+ bond rating which is “one step” from the highest rating of a AAA, which is not generally given to a city of our size. The three awards that the City won are: Certifi cate of Achievement for Excel- lence in Financial Reporting (CAFR Program) The GFOA established the Certifi cate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting (CAFR Program) to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond the minimum requirements of generally accepted ac- counting principles and to prepare com- prehensive annual fi nancial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure, and then to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal. The goal of the program is not to assess the fi nancial health of participat- ing governments, but rather to ensure that users of their fi nancial statements have the information they need to do so themselves. This is the tenth consecutive year the City has received this award (2006 – 2015). Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award (PAFR Program) The GFOA established the Popular Annual Finan- cial Reporting Award (PAFR Program) to encourage and assist state and local governments to extract information from their comprehensive annual fi nancial report to produce high quality popular annual fi nancial reports specifi cally designed to be readily accessible and easily under- standable to the general public and other interested parties without a background in public fi nance and then to recognize indi- vidual governments that are successful in achieving that goal. This is also the tenth consecutive year the City has received this award (2006 – 2015). Distinguished Budget Presentation Award (Budget Award Program) The GFOA established the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award (Budget Award Organics recycling comes to town Land O’ Lakes construction Perry Park upgrade Hot Dogs with a Deputy Sue Virnig of MnGFOA presents Dave Perrault, Interim Director of Finance and Administrative Services, with the City’s fi nancial awards.