The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recently recognized the Yorba Linda Water District (YLWD) for two awards:

1. Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for FY17; and

2. Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for FY18

YLWD has been awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for 8 consecutive years and the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for 7 consecutive years. Both of these achievements represent commitment of the governing body and staff to meet high standards set by GFOA.

The GFOA, which is a nationally established nonprofit professional association serving more than 19,000 public finance officials throughout the United States and Canada, has a committee that evaluates and rates Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFR) submitted for consideration to its Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Program. Award-winning reports are those that go beyond the minimum of generally-accepted accounting principles, prove to be and embody “the spirit of transparency and full disclosure.” A GFOA committee also evaluates and rates Annual Operating Budgets submittal to its Distinguished Budget Presentation Award program. Award winning budget documents are those that meet the highest set principles of governmental budgeting and satisfy nationally set guidelines for effective budget presentation. Such guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity’s budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device.

YLWD met these criteria through a variety of evaluations, including a review of its current financial ratings. As a result of the reviews, YLWD’s ratings were affirmed as AA by Fitch Ratings and AA+ by Standard & Poor’s. These strong ratings reflect YLWD’s secure financial health, as a result of prudent financial management policies and sound financial operations.

YLWD has an annual operating budget of $30.7 million to maintain an assessed $1 billion of infrastructure. The budget preparation period takes approximately 9 months to complete and be approved by the Board of Directors. Each department is responsible for providing budget assessments based on departmental projects. Once assessments are submitted, the finance department will begin the process of reviewing and analyzing the budget as a whole. 

“Consistency is one of the key elements of excellence. During the past 8 years, the management and staff at Yorba Linda Water District have achieved consistent excellence in financial reporting and transparency,” stated YLWD Board President Al Nederhood. “All customers of the YLWD and the District Board can take comfort and pride in the accomplishment these awards represent.”