City Nabs Budget Award Second Year in a Row

Despite a rocky economic climate, Des Plaines has secured national recognition for its budget for the second consecutive year, officials recently announced.

The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) awarded the city the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, recognizing how well the fiscal 2009 budget was initially drafted and subsequently carried out. The awards program is the only national honor for governmental budgeting, city officials said in a statement.

Acting City Manager Jason Slowinski praised the work of Finance Director Dorothy Wisniewski and her staff, crediting them with the honor.

"It really is a testament to the professionalism of our financial director and her staff," Slowinski said. "It's remarkable that we've received this award two years in a row and it really says something about [Wisniewski's] leadership."

Wisniewski lauded Slowinski's leadership and said the effort was teamwork, which will continue as administrators work on the 2011 budget.

"Jason and I are heavily involved in working to balance the 2011 budget," she  said. "We'll be presenting the initial budget to City Council closer to Sept. 17."

The GFOA established the awards program in 1984 to "encourage and assist state and local governments to prepare documents of the very highest quality," according to its website.

"Award recipients have pioneered efforts to improve the quality of budgeting and provide an excellent example for other governments throughout North America," the GFOA said in a statement.

Challenges described in the city's award-winning 2009 budget document included the local and national economic outlook, record rainfall in 2008 that caused massive flooding and $1.24 million in emergency spending, personnel expenses and the cost of commodities. Operating expenses were reduced by nearly $1.2 million in 2009's $120 million overall budget.

"With the fluidity and uncertainty of the economic downturn looming in the background, the process of developing the 2009 Budget occurred during these critical months," Jason Bajor, former city manager wrote in the 2009 budget memo. "Staff and the City Council were responsive to this challenge and, through subsequent revisions and modifications, established a budget that reduced operational expenditures by $1.184 million without eliminating any significant service or program."

The city has experienced declining revenues, resulting in heavy cuts and some layoffs in the last two years, Wisniewski explained.  

The city had to implement some budgetary procedures in 2009 that continued in the 2010 fiscal budget; officials placed a "true hold" on expenditures that froze spending on anything that was not absolutely critical.

This year's  budget, which is estimated to come in at $101.3 million, is still being challenged by the recession, declining revenues and personnel expenses.

However, "the revenue is coming in as expected," Wisniewski said. "Holding back on the expenditures unless they are absolutely critical has helped."

The finance director said she wouldn't describe the 2010 budget with a "very optimistic outlook, but I believe it's within the parameters in terms of revenue and expenditures."