Town Manager John Mangiaratti is pleased to announce that the Town has received an award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting (PAFR) from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 2021 Report.

The award is the highest form of recognition in governmental budgeting and represents a significant achievement by the Town of Acton.

The GFOA created the Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award Program to encourage state and local governments to extract information from their annual financial report and produce condensed resources designed to be accessible and easily understandable to the general public. The submitted reports are reviewed and evaluated based on reader appeal, understandability, distribution methods, creativity, and other elements. Governments that are successful in achieving those criteria are then recognized for their efforts.

Acton received the PAFR award as a recognition of its commitment to being transparent with the community on its financials. In an effort to keep residents informed about where their tax dollars were being spent, the Town created a public document that condensed its Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for 2021.

The document presents a summary of financial information, allowing the reader to better understand the Town’s financial health. It provides a benchmark analysis against comparable communities for liabilities, such as debt service and pension obligations, and other indicators such as average single-family tax bill and budget growth rate.

"Popular financial reporting is a financial best practice for communities, allowing residents to easily understand the financial health of their community," said Town Manager Mangiaratti. "We are thrilled to receive recognition for the publication of this document. I would like to thank Intergovernmental Affairs Director Austin Cyganiewicz for taking the initiative to create this new transparency tool."

News of the award is timely, as the Town recently published its Fiscal Year 2022 Popular Annual Financial Report, which can be viewed here.

This year’s report has been expanded to include information about current projects, the Town’s 10-year capital plan, and updates on the Boardwalk Campus and North Acton Fire Station projects.