Locust City Manager Cesar Correa announced the city has received the GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association) Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

“The credit for receiving this award goes to Stephania Morton, city finance officer, for her excellent work in preparing all our financial reports,” Correa said at the city council’s meeting Thursday night.

According to information from the GFOA, the award is designed “to encourage and assist state and local governments to go beyond minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles to prepare annual comprehensive financial reports that evidence the spirit of transparency and full disclosure and to recognize individual governments that succeed in achieving that goal.”

This is the second such award for Locust’s finance department, having received a similar GFOA honor in 2021, the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the city’s annual budget message to its citizens.

Toby Thorpe is a freelance writer for The Stanly News & Press.