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By NOAH WORTHAM | Managing Editor

ALABASTER – For the third year in a row, the city of Alabaster’s Finance Department earned the Triple Crown award from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada.

The Triple Crown is awarded to governments that receive the GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement of Excellence in Financial Reporting, Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award and Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.

“I’m extremely proud of our whole finance team for working hard to get those awards,” Alabaster Finance Director John Haggard said.

Alabaster Public Relations Manager Neal Wagner spoke on behalf of the city on its appreciation of the finance department’s dedication to financial excellence.

“Our finance department is doing a great job,” Wagner said. “They’re making sure that we as a city are excellent stewards of the city’s money and taxpayers’ money. We’ve been incredibly financially sound over the past several years, and they’re a big part of that as far as making sure everything is done correctly.”

Wagner said the city gets audited every year and the audit always comes back very strong.

“Earning the Triple Crown is definitely an indication of the hard work and dedication they have to the city,” Wagner said.

In order to obtain the Triple Crown, the city had to win the Certificate of Achievement of Excellence in Financial Reporting which consists of the city’s audited financials as well as the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award which involves the presentation of the budget for that particular fiscal year.

The city also obtained the Popular Annual Reporting Award which involved the department taking its annual comprehensive financial report and condensing it down into a less technical and more user-friendly form so that individuals without a financial background may understand it.

“We won all three of those awards this year, and I’m very proud of the staff that we’ve got in the finance department that work very hard on that to provide the highest quality information to the public and the users of our financial statements,” Haggard said.

Haggard said he hope that the award shows the public the city’s commitment to transparency and that the city provides the highest level of financial information to the public for anyone who wants to use it.

“(Only when) people have access to all the information they need, can they truly make informed decisions about their government,” Haggard said. “The biggest takeaway from this is that the city of Alabaster is very focused on making sure that we are fully transparent with our finances and providing users of our financials, including citizens of Alabaster, the best possible information that they can get in order to make informed decisions.”