Upper St. Clair's Finance Department Wins National Award

The Upper St. Clair Board of Commissioners recognized the township's finance department on Tuesday night for winning the Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its 2011 budget.

This is the third consecutive year that the township has received the award.

In order to receive the budget award, the township had to satisfy nationally-recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. The guidelines are designed to assess how well a township's budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device. Budget documents must be rated proficient in the four categories, and the fourteen mandatory criteria within the categories, to receive the award. One of the reviewers rated Upper St. Clair's 2011 budget outstanding in all categories.

Township Manager Matthew Serakowski said the award represents a significant achievement by the township.

Commissioner Mark Hamilton presented the finance department with the award at the board of commissioners meeting on Tuesday night. 

Hamilton also announced the finance department recently met with independent auditors and there were "no surprises." He said the township's finances are "doing as expected."

The finance department staff members are August Stache, Jr., director of finance; Andrew McCreery, accounting manager; Bonnie Antonelli, accountant; Diana Pifer, administrative assistant; Deborah Bakowski, administrative assistant; and Karen Kutschbach, office assistant.

The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving more than 17,600 government financial professionals through North America. Their Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.