City banks finance award for 30th year

While no one really likes paying taxes, citizens of Mount Airy at least can be assured that taxpayer dollars are properly cared for — judging by the city continuing to receive an award from a national organization.

For the 30th-straight year, the municipal Finance Department has garnered the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting.

That award is the highest recognition attainable in the realm of governmental accounting and transparency, which is given by the Government Finance Officers Association based in Chicago.

Mount Airy is believed to be the only city in the nation which has maintained a 30-year streak in receiving the Certificate of Achievement award.

“That’s been under the leadership of Pam Stone for (much) of those years,” City Manager Darren Lewis said during a meeting in late June when the most recent honor was announced.

Stone was named assistant city manager in February, and before that was Mount Airy’s finance director, beginning in 2014. This came after the departure of John Overton, who had held that position since the early 1990s when “The Streak” started.

Stone, a 30-year city government employee, was second in command to Overton.

The most recent award to Mount Airy from the Chicago organization was for an annual comprehensive financial report covering the city’s fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2023, which occurred during Stone’s tenure.

Even after becoming assistant city manager, she continued to operate in the finance director role until the appointment of her replacement, Sherri Coalson, was announced in May.

Team effort cited

The Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting program was launched in 1945 to encourage and assist local governments in going beyond minimum requirements of generally accepted accounting principles.

It encourages the preparation of comprehensive annual financial reports reflecting a spirit of transparency and full disclosure, and recognizes individual governmental units that succeed in meeting this objective and satisfying the high standards of the program.

Participation in it is voluntary.

In commenting on the significance of the 30-year streak, the city manager mentioned how it is largely due to a “phenomenal Finance Department.”

But Lewis said the recognition also reflects the fiscal diligence exhibited by the leadership of the various city divisions as a whole, including police, parks-recreation, fire and others.

“Everyone has some type of financial contribution to the city” Lewis explained, in terms of managing individual departmental budgets and participating in its success as a whole.

“And under their leadership, their policies that they have set forth, is the reason we’ve continued to receive this award,” the city manager said of the unison among department heads.

“They’re what makes it happen.”