In 2020, GFOA launched the Financial Policy Challenge, an opportunity for GFOA members to adopt and share financial policies that are essential to a strong financial foundation. Our surveys show that significant portions of the GFOA membership do not have some of the policies that GFOA considers critical. For example, only about half of GFOA members have a one-time revenue policy. GFOA members have continually affirmed their belief that financial policies are important, and the Financial Policy Challenge is a way to access policy templates and share examples. By working together, GFOA members can make these policies much more common.

GFOA is pleased to announce that as of June 2021, 12 local governments have earned recognition for completing the challenge. To be deemed “complete” a local government had to submit a policy or policies that addressed at least seven policy categories, and for each category, the policy had to include a majority of GFOA’s recommended policy elements.

This month, we are featuring interviews with the City of Mequon, Wisconsin; the City of Brookfield, Wisconsin; the Waukegan Park District, Illinois; the City of Austin, Texas; the Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas; and the City of Thousand Oaks, California.

• Publication date: October 2021
• Author: Katie Ludwig