FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Last week, the City Council approved the budget for the remaining months of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009, Council President Debbie Quinn said.

During that Dec. 8 council meeting, a motion was made to pass the budget through March 31. But afterward, Quinn said it was her intention for the council to pass the entire year’s budget, and the language of the motion may have been made by mistake.

She said whether the council needs to correct the mistake at its next council meeting does not detract from the new and closer scrutiny of the budget by the council.

“We will be looking at it much more closely than was done in the past,” said Quinn, adding that the council and its Finance Committee will be reviewing the budget and financial records of the city every two weeks to some degree.

During a Finance Committee meeting prior to that council meeting, Councilman Lonnie Mixon, who chairs the committee, requested some current information from the administration, including a list of department heads and position descriptions for those jobs and others. That information was requested for the council to better understand the overall working of the city in the context of its financial operations, Mixon said.

At an earlier Finance Committee meeting, Mixon asked a staff member with the city’s finance department to suggest ways the financial records of the city could be presented in a more easily understood format.

That issue of how the financial records are presented has been a frequent refrain from the council. The finance department has responded that it has presented the information in every way the council has ever asked for it to be done.

One thing not suggested publicly during council or committee meetings is for the city to look at how other cities present their budgets, or if there are any award programs that could provide a format for budget presentation.

One source for the city in that regard is the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program.

“The (program) allows the public finance profession a welcome opportunity to recognize those governments that have, in fact, succeeded in preparing a high quality budget document,” the GFOA’s Web site states. “This recognition can be viewed as a positive factor by credit rating agencies and by others interested in the professionalism of a government’s finance function.”

For the first time this year, Fairhope and its finance department received a different award from the GFOA: the Certificate of Achievement in Financial Reporting.

In Alabama, two cities — Auburn and Birmingham — have for a number of years received both the budget and the financial reporting award.

The Web site for Auburn’s finance department provides a large amount of the kind of budget and financial information that must be submitted to the GFOA as part of the application for the budget presentation award.

The GFOA’s Web site presents detailed explanations on the criteria by which a city’s budget application is reviewed for award purposes. The awards criteria is divided into four categories: (1) the budget as a policy document; (2) the budget as a financial plan; (3) the budget as an operations guide; and (4) the budget as a communications device.

One issue the council has frequently raised is that even though the financial information may be accurate, it is difficult to understand.

The fourth item in the GFOA’s awards criteria addresses that issue, giving the following explanations:

• “Communication Device criterion #1: The document should provide summary information, including an overview of significant budgetary issues, trends, and resource choices. Summary information should be presented within the budget document either in a separate section (e.g. executive summary) or integrated within the transmittal letter or other overview sections, or as a separate budget-in-brief document;

• “CD criterion #2: The document should explain the effect, if any, of other planning processes (e.g., strategic plans, long-range financial plans, and capital improvement plans) upon the budget and the budget process;

• “CD criterion #3: The document shall describe the process for preparing, reviewing, and adopting the budget for the coming fiscal year. It also should describe the procedures for amending the budget after adoption;

• “CD criterion #4: Charts and graphs should be used, where appropriate, to highlight financial and statistical information. Narrative interpretation should be provided when the messages conveyed by the graphs are not self-evident;

• “CD criterion #5: The document should provide narrative, tables, schedules, or matrices to show the relationship between functional units, major funds, and non-major funds in the aggregate;

• “CD criterion #6: The document shall include a table of contents to make it easy to locate the information in the document;

• “CD criterion #7: A glossary should be included for any terminology (including abbreviations and acronyms) that is not readily understandable to a reasonably informed lay reader;

• “CD criterion #8: The document should include statistical and supplemental data that describe the organization, its community, and population. It should also furnish other pertinent background information related to the services provided;

• “CD criterion #9: The document should be produced and formatted in such a way as to enhance its understanding by the average reader. It should be attractive, consistent, and oriented to the reader’s needs.”

During the Dec. 8 Finance Committee meeting, the council heard from several department heads and asked questions of them about budget issues for the coming year. After that discussion, Quinn recommended that the council pass the budget at the council meeting that night.

“My recommendation is that we pass it, but that we sit on top of it and look at it every two weeks,” Quinn said.

For more information about the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program, visit its Web site at:

http://www.gfoa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33.

For more information about how the City of Auburn Finance Department presents its budget information, visit its Web site at:

http://www.auburnalabama.org/fi/budget.asp.