Orange County Program Budgeting Efforts Recognized in Government Finance Officer’s Association’s Monthly Publication GFR By: Orange County Communications Department
Orange County is excited to have been featured in the December issue of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA)'s publication: GFR (Government Finance Review)! This highlight focuses on our organization's recent shift from a traditional line-item budget to program budgeting, which better connects the funding a department receives with its mission and goals. Beginning on page 47, GFR’s feature of Orange County explains how the process was inspired, the challenges associated with the switch, insight into the process itself, and how Orange County was able to leverage our advantages to get it done. Since GFR is an industry publication, the article also provides some insight from our team for other local governments interested in improving the clarity of their budgets and financial reporting. This feature reinforces Orange County’s trend of financial achievements, which includes the recent receipt of the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.
To earn the award, a locality’s budget documents must meet program criteria and excel as a policy document, financial plan, operations guide, and communication tool. A budget must be rated “proficient” in each of those four categories, as well as the 14 mandatory criteria within those categories, to be recognized. In fact, this award recognized the first Orange County budget to fully incorporate program-based budgeting, Fiscal Year 2026 (July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026). The Orange County budget is available on our website at www.orangecountyva.gov/budget, in both online and downloadable PDF formats. For those interested, several recent years and an archive of older budgets can be found there as well.
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