View sessions for GFOA's 118th Annual Conference, June 9–12, in Orlando!

When a budget is out of balance, we often look first at cutting costs, but sometimes there is nothing left to cut, and as finance officers, we need to explore options for increasing revenue. In this session, speakers will outline different revenue options available to local governments, including user fees and different types of taxes, along with the risks associated with each option. Speakers will share their experiences and provide advice on how to move forward with establishing new fees and taxes or raising existing rates. 

Financial Manager, City of Ann Arbor, Michigan

Revenue Chief, City of Atlanta, Georgia

Revenue Manager, Bexar County, Texas

Show Me the Money: Options for Increasing Revenue

Budgeting and Forecasting

Whether in our professional or personal lives, we've all heard horror stories about contractor disputes throwing projects off their timeline and causing budget overruns. This session will explore how local governments can manage contractor disputes, from change orders to performance issues. Panelists will discuss topics including the main drivers of contract disputes, how to better understand your risks, essential contract terms for local government, and how to identify problematic situations before they occur.

Chief Procurement Officer, Orlando, Florida

Director of Purchasing and Contracting, County of San Diego, CA

TriMet, Portland, Oregon

Director, Alvarez and Marshal, Kansas City, Missouri

Procurement

Many local governments across the United States have relied on ARPA funds (and other COVID-related financial assistance) to balance their budgets in recent years. In many cases, these one-time funds were used to pay for ongoing costs, resulting in structural budget deficits. As local governments face the expiration of ARPA funds, additional challenges have emerged, including decreasing commercial property values, rising inflation, and difficulty recruiting new employees--not to mention the threat of a recession. This panel will discuss strategies for improving fiscal sustainability and recommend steps that finance officers can take now to protect community priorities as federal relief disappears.

Director of Finance, City of Cleveland, Ohio

Director of Budget & Management, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Senior Director, Government & Public Sector, EY-Parthenon

Executive Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Harris County, Texas

In addition to managing a debt program, finance professionals need to be aware of various initiatives afoot that impact the municipal bond market and bond issuances.  This session will look at key matters being discussed by federal regulators, the issuer community, and market leaders in an effort to prepare governments for what’s next. 

Partner, Nixon Peabody LLP

Chief, Division of Fiscal Management, Montgomery County, Maryland

Senior Associate, Florida Division of Bond Finance, Tallahassee, Florida

Principal Debt Management Specialist, State of Connecticut

Debt Management

To be an effective chief financial officer (CFO), you need more than technical skills and knowledge. You also need to be able to navigate politics, communicate complex information, guide decision-making, and lead teams through times of change, uncertainty, and crisis. At this session, you will hear from a panel of chief executives about what they are looking for in a CFO and other leadership positions in government, including the different types of challenges they expect leaders to be able to manage. You will also learn how to prepare for an interviews, navigate more complex hiring processes, and demonstrate you have what it takes. This session will also allow attendees to practice interviewing skills with your peers.

Note: This workshop required pre-registration. 

Human Resources Director, Orange County, Florida

CEO, Strategic Government Resource

Senior Vice President, Executive Recruitment, Strategic Government Resources (SFR), Fort Worth, Texas

Executive Vice President - Recruitment & Leadership, Strategic Government Resources

Safety Harbor, Florida

City Manager, City of Seward, Alaska

CIty Manager, City of Bloomington, Minnesota

City Manager, City of Green Cove Springs, Florida

Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, City of Orlando, Florida

Leadership Workshop: Developing Skills to Lead

Leadership, Ethics, and Trust

Research has found that the traditional public hearing featuring public officials seated at the front of the room and speakers who get a short amount of time at the microphone often does more harm than good when it comes to building trust and connection between government and members of the public. With this in mind, GFOA is encouraging its members to rethink their approach to public engagement. Based on GFOA's research on this topic, this session will feature speakers who will explain why the current model isn't working and highlight case studies of local governments that have achieved better outcomes from their public engagement efforts. 

Finance Director, City of Manassas, VA

Senior Management and Budget Analyst, Leon County, BOCC, Florida

Deputy Director, Center for Democracy Innovation, National Civic League

The pace of technology innovation seems to be outpaced only by growth of risks that the same technology can expose an organization to. As we all witnessed over the past year, the development of artificial intelligence (AI) has had a significant impact on public finance, and with that raised the threat of more sophisticated threats. Speakers will provide an overview of the latest cybersecurity threats, including the legal, internal control, and fraud challenges that come with AI's ability to emulate voices, writing styles, and more. Attend this session to understand counter measures and essential practices to mitigate current risks and better prepare for what comes next.  

Supervisory Special Agent, FBI, Orlando, Florida

Senior Executive Advisor, Cyber Florida, City of Tampa, Florida

Ambassador, Cyber Florida, Tampa, Florida

ERP Systems and Technology

While some may long for the calm market days of just a couple years ago, issuers should be looking at current market conditions and trends to determine the opportunities available to them as they manage their outstanding portfolio and plan to issue new debt. Marketplace leaders will present insights and trends of interest to issuers, and issuance participants will provide an overview of different bond structures and financings that may help governments succeed in this dynamic environment. 

Managing Director, Stifel, Denver, Colorado

Senior Vice President, Research and Public Policy, Bond Dealers of America, Washington, D.C.

Managing Director, Siebert Williams Shank, Indianapolis, Indiana

Head of Public Policy and Municipal Strategy, HilltopSecurities Inc.

ESSER funding is set to expire in September 2024. The underlying purpose of the funding was to address student learning losses during the pandemic. Many school districts used these funds to implement new strategies or initiatives to close the learning losses. With the expiration of ESSER funding on the horizon, school districts will need to determine which ones worked and which did not. This session will explore the basics of academic return on investment (AROI), including how to select a target program for the AROI analysis, the need for a clear definition of the intended outcome of an educational initiative, and the relative costs and benefits of different means to accomplish those outcomes.

Senior Project Manager

Associate Superintendent for Business & Finance, Mansfield ISD

Preparing School Districts for the ESSER Funding Cliff

GFOA's Federal Liaison Center keeps a watchful eye on congressional and regulatory activity in Washington, D.C. for members. In this session, speakers will highlight major actions at the federal level and what finance professionals need to be aware of now. Attendees will also hear about what to watch for in the coming year including federal funding opportunities, upcoming unfunded mandates and predictions for the 119th Congress.

Director, Federal Liaison Center

Senior Policy Advisor

Policy Analyst

Federal Advocacy

For many small organizations, there is no official procurement department and having staff dedicated to procurement functions like coordinating requests for proposals (RFPs), managing vendor relationships, issuing purchase order (POs), managing contracts, and ensuring compliance with state, federal, or grantor purchase requirements is not realistic. However, the procurement responsibilities for small governments are not all that different than those of their larger peers. In this session, speakers will explain how to establish an effective procurement function in a small government and how to integrate purchasing and finance responsibilities while still maintaining focus on each. Speakers will also discuss strategies for using your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system more effectively and policy and process considerations for modern procurement functions.

Finance Director, City of Altoona, Iowa

Town Procurement and Contract Manager, Town of Palm Beach, Florida

Assistant City Manager, City of Satellite Beach, Florida

Director of Fiscal Affairs for Acquisitions & Auxiliary Services, Eastern Connecticut State University

Out of Sight: Building a Procurement Function in Small Governments

Local governments have long relied on last year’s budget to make incremental, line-item changes around the margins to make next year’s budget. Though this form of budgeting has advantages and can be useful in times of stability, it can also make local governments slow to adapt in times of rapid change, like the volatile and uncertain times we live in today. GFOA’s Rethinking Budgeting initiative considers new ways of thinking, new technologies, and updated practices to better meet the changing needs of communities. GFOA has developed a tool to assess your organization’s readiness to rethink budgeting. At this session, you will learn what it means to rethink budgeting, become familiar with the resources GFOA has developed to do so, and learn how to use the assessment tool in your organization.

Senior Manager, Research

Director of Resource Development

Leadership Workshop: GFOA's Budgeting Readiness Assessment

Governments have a tremendous opportunity to present their entity and its achievements during the bond rating process.  Rating agency presentations and ongoing communications are integral to establishing and maintaining successful relationships with these important debt issuance partners. Join this session to hear from rating agency representatives who will discuss the essential variables in their rating evaluations, including recent changes to rating criteria within some agencies.  Issuers from entities of various sizes will also present their approach to the ratings and rating presentation processes.

Administrative Services Director, City of Chaska, Minnesota

Managing Director, S&P Global, Denver, Colorado

Investor Relations Manager, City of Atlanta, GA

Principal, Crowe LLP

Chief Financial Officer, City of Denton, Texas

Making a Good First Impression: How to Prepare for Your Bond Ratings

Many governments have explored “budgeting for equity,” which, broadly defined, means allocating local government resources in a way that is intended to address unfair disparities between different groups of people, such as racial groups or income groups. However, many also find the practical application much more difficult and nuanced that anticipated. This workshop will help government leaders approach budgeting for equity with concepts from evidence-based budgeting to define and identify program effectiveness and create an environment that leads to an decision-making processes. This session will focus on economic mobility, and attendees will explore examples and strategies for building a budget framework that leads to better and more equitable outcomes for the whole community.

Associate Director - Local Practice, Results for America, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Vice President & Local Practice Lead, Results for America, New York, New York

Associate Director, Local Practice, Results for America, Washington, D.C.

Associate Director, Communications and Mobilization, Results for America, Miami, Florida

Leadership Workshop: Equity and Evidence-Based Budgeting

Finance professionals from very different communities are united in challenges faced by water. Some face the threat of erosion and destruction of property from climate change induced flooding, others struggle with water quality and availability, more need to balance the needs of growing residential and industrial uses with that of agriculture. In all cases, finance professionals need to focus on maintaining critical infrastructure that allows our communities to exist. At this session, speakers will discuss what it takes to maintain, plan, and fund the assets and infrastructure necessary for water sustainably in the face of multi-level environmental, fiscal, and legacy system challenges.

Director, WIFIA Management Division, Office of Water, EPA, Washington, D.C.

Executive Director, Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority

Chief Financial Officer, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, New Mexico

Director of Finance & Administration, Las Virgenes Municipal Water District

Capital Finance Director, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California

Managing Water Infrastructure and Assets in Modern America

Capital Planning and Asset Management

Economic Development

Open to attendees under 40 years old, this interactive speed networking session is designed for GFOA members to meet and exchange ideas. Small groups will be given time to share thoughts on an issue facing their government, the public finance profession, or topics related to career progression, mentoring, or networking. Attendees can expect to meet other young professionals and begin building relationships that can be leveraged throughout the year. 

GFOA will also provide information on the Young Professionals Network and programming that is offered beyond the conference.

Consultant

Young Professionals Network: Speed Networking

In 2022, Congress expanded tax credits aimed to revolutionize U.S. energy investments and production utilizing green and renewable methods. Come to this session to hear from the U.S. Treasury and fellow finance officers on utilizing this unique opportunity for local communities. 

Director of Strategy, City of Detroit, Michigan

Controller, Bloomington, Indiana

Director of Finance, City of Alexandria, Virginia

What's In It For You: Leveraging the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

Solutions to the challenges of aging infrastructure are not found exclusively within the finance or budget offices of an organization. While GFOA believes that a robust asset management program is important to long-term sustainability, we are far from alone with this view and are better collaborating with peers from across the organization, including public works. Managing the data and making good short- and long-term capital and asset management decisions is a shared responsibility. This session will explore how finance can best work with engineers, project managers, and others in the organization to drive cost effective maintenance, maintain services, and get the most from existing infrastructure.

Director Infrastructure & Environmental Services, Adelaide, South Australia

Capital Planning and Budgeting Program Manager, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco, California

Asset Management Consultant, Withersravenel, Plainfield, New Hampshire

International Advisor, GFOA (CEDCP)

Partnering with Public Works: Using Data and Levels of Service for Better Asset Management

Climate change will be felt at a local level and governments will need to better understand how they will be impacted and what they will need to do to address challenges from sea-level rise, flooding, drought, severe weather, public health, population change, or more. The session will help finance professionals identify key risks that governments face, provide tools for assessing the financial and long-term budget implications, and provide ideas for potential mitigation strategies. In addition, speakers will highlight innovative and creative solutions that governments can take advantage of now to better prepare their leaders, the organization, and overall community. 

Associate Director, Howden Group, New York, New York

Senior Resilience Policy Advisor, Miami-Dade County, Florida

Vice President, Hagerty Consulting, Washington, D.C.

Head of Climate Finance for Cities, States/Regions & North America Lead, CDP, Brooklyn, New York

Fixed Inform Research Analyst, Sustainable Investing, Brown Advisory, New York, New York

The Climate Cost Collision: Addressing Climate Mitigation at the Local Level

As governments contend with new and more complex challenges in their communities, long-term financial planning has become even more important, as it is the key to ensuring that government can continue to provide the programs and services the community needs both today and in the future. While no finance professional can predict the future, GFOA believes it is the responsibility of all to develop financial forecasts, understand local demographic and socioeconomic trends, and project major changes revenues and expenses to position the organization to be successful in the future. This session will feature panelists who have prepared long-term financial plans for their organizations and provide tips for how to get started on planning for your own organization.

Principal, Ernst & Young, LLP

Senior Officer, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington, D.C.

Finance Director, Buncombe County, North Carolina

Welcome to 2030. Long-Term Financial Planning in Government

For many local governments, the cost of employee health benefits takes up a bigger share of the total budget every year. Given how competitive the labor market is right now, many local governments are hesitant to cut benefits to achieve lower costs. This session will provide an overview of options for reducing the cost of employee health benefits without reducing the benefits provided to the employee.

CFO, Utah Retirement Systems, Salt Lake City, Utah

Managing Director, PEHP Health Plan, Salt Lake City, Utah

Chief, Enterprise Risk Management & Shared Services, Albemarle County, Virginia

Options for Cutting the Cost of Employee Health Benefits

Compensation and Benefits

The number of payment options available to customers has shifted dramatically in recent years, but many governments have yet to embrace new technology that makes payments easier for customers (or for the organization itself). This session will provide an overview of contactless payment options commonly available in other industries and how governments can accept these payments securely and safely.  Speakers will also provide lessons learned on how to best integrate contactless payment options with current systems and cashiering functions.

Director of Finance/CFO, Town of Gilbert, Arizona

Senior Vice President and Market Executive, Bank of America

Chief Deputy Treasurer, Marion County Treasurer's Office, Indiana

Finance Director, City of Wood Dale, Illinois

Cash May Not be King: The Future of Contactless Payment in Government

Treasury and Investment Management

The notion of basing budget decisions on performance rather than precedent or politics is a powerful one, but also a concept that can be much more easily said than done. As many governments have attempted to make this shift, they often face technical, communication, leadership, and political challenges that make sustainability of performance-informed budgeting a rare occurrence. Speakers in this session will confront the obstacles that stand in the way and identify what budget leaders can do to prepare for this transition and recommendations for achieving success, transforming the budget function, and benefiting the community. 

Principal, Barrett and Green, Inc.

Director of Finance, City of Duluth, MN

Senior Director of Product Stragegy - Budgeting, Tyler Technologies, Denver, Colorado

Principal, Barrett and Greene, Inc.

Budget Director, City of Baltimore, Maryland

Deputy City Manager for Strategic Initiatives & Innovation, City of Port St. Lucie, Florida

Performance-Informed Budgeting: The Prospects and Problems

Homelessness is a growing challenge facing nearly every urban area across the United States and Canada. Just as there is not one cause of this crisis, there is not one solution either. Addressing this challenge will require a multi-pronged approach and partnerships between different organizations. This session is hosted by GFOA's Urban Forum and all current forum members. Those interested in joining the forum are invited to attend to learn how some communities are addressing homelessness and how they are funding these efforts. 

GFOA's Urban Forum is free for GFOA members from large urban governments and exists to provide opportunities for networking and exchanging information on topics unique to the demands of managing large and complex organizations.

CEO, Homeless Services Network of Central Florida

CEO, ManageWise, Portland, Oregon

Vice President - Customer Solutions, PMA Financial Network, Saint Louis Park, Minnesota

Deputy City Manager | CFO, City of Chandler, Arizona

Division Manager, Orange County Mental Health and Homelessness Division, Orlando, Florida

Chief Financial Officer, Minnesota Housing, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Urban Forum: Responding to the Homelessness Crisis

Triple digits here we come! GASB’s new guidance on risk and uncertainties disclosures requires governments to assess various vulnerabilities in the governmental environment. This session will provide details on concentrations and constraints, two key aspects of the guidance, and explore scenarios that may lead to a disclosure. This session will also update participants on the long anticipated financial reporting model project and share what made the final cut regarding changes to governmental funds, proprietary funds, management’s discussion and analysis and more! 

Deputy Town Manager, Town of Prosper, Texas

Partner, Forvis Mazars, Omaha, Nebraska

Directof of Research and Technical Activities, Governmental Accounting Standards Board

Triple Digit Heat Wave: Forecast for 102 and 103

Accounting and Financial Reporting

Each year, GFOA's Accounting and Auditing Year in Review provides conference attendees with an overview of changing standards and previews upcoming projects. During this perennial favorite, speakers will provide a comprehensive overview of the key developments in accounting, auditing, and financial reporting that affect state and local governments. Topics for this year include the new audit standards, GASB Statements 100 and 101, and upcoming implementations with related practice issues, as well as developments related to current GASB projects likely to affect preparers and auditors in the near future.

Chair, Governmental Accounting Standards Board, Norwalk, Connecticut

Executive Director, NASACT, Lexington, Kentucky

Pinellas Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Clearwater, Florida

Director, Technical Services

Current accounting and financial reporting standards for pensions became effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2014, and similar changes for other postemployment benefits followed three years later. Even now, many governments still struggle with accounting and reporting for postemployment benefits, given the large number and high complexity of estimates necessary to measure and explain these amounts. In this session, refresh your fundamental understanding of defined benefit pension and OPEB plans from presenters with relevant actuarial, accounting, and auditing expertise. 

Senior Consultant & Actuary, Gabriel, Roeder, Smith & Company, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Assistant Director, Financial Reporting, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Columbus, Ohio

Partner, Crowe, LLP, Chicago, Illinois

Chief Financial Officer, City of North Little Rock, Arkansas

Not Getting Any Easier: Ongoing Difficulty with Reporting for Pensions and OPEB

Technology has the opportunity to drive efficiencies, improve services, and transform organizations of all types and sizes.  While some technology is expensive and very difficult to implement, some can be very affordable and readily available for all GFOA members. Attend this session to learn about low-cost options that you can use to improve your own productivity or use to introduce new improvements to your organization. Speakers will highlight simple to use tools for analytics, communications, process improvement, and group collaboration, and discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on options that may be available in the future.

Executive Director, Vermont Bond Bank

Chief Finance & Administrative Officer, Harris County Flood Control District, Houston, Texas

Central Accounting Manager, Roanoke County, Virginia

From Excel to AI: Low Cost Technologies with Big Impact

Numbers are at the core of a public finance professional's job, and a big part of the job is communicating those numbers to other people. This is challenging because numbers are abstract concepts. We teach children to count objects, like their fingers and toes, to make number more concrete, but the numbers that finance professionals need to communicate often go well beyond what can be accommodated by fingers and toes. This session will share examples of how we can take a cue from our childhood and communicate numbers more effectively by relating them to human experience.

Director of Finance, City of Livonia, Michigan

Finance Director, City of Shakopee, Minnesota

Finance Director, Town of Newtown, Connecticut

Digital Media Editor, City of Arlington, Texas

The Language of Numbers: How to Clearly Communicate

To many in government finance, it can seem like there are always new accounting standards to implement. However, the last few years have been a whirlwind for most with implementation of new standards for leases, subscription-based information technology agreements (SBITAs) and public private partnerships (P3s). In this session speakers will leverage their experience with these recent implementations and highlight trends from GFOA’s Certificate of Achievement program to help ensure governments are correctly meeting the accounting and reporting requirements. 

Senior Program Manager - Budget/Finance, Transportation Department, City of Dallas, Texas

ACFR Manager, Indiana State Comptroller, Indianapolis, Indiana

DFAS Director, City of Albuquerque, New Mexico

Partner, RubinBrown, LLP, St. Louis, Missouri

Are We Done Yet? Recap from the Implementation of GASB 87, 94, and 96

With threats like aging infrastructure, heightened weather events, extreme climate conditions, and other external risks, many finance professionals will likely have to deal with some kind of "hundred year" event during their careers. This session will explore the aftermath of such an event--how to fund recovery and build recovery capacity, who to involve, and how to lead, and how to keep basic operations going. This session will feature conversations with public finance professionals who have led through the incidents that we all hope never to experience, but must be prepared to address. The goal is to help ensure that we are in a better position to consider what needs to happen in the event of the unthinkable happening to our government and community.

Treasurer, City of St. Paul, Minnesota

Assistant County Administrative Officer, County of Tulare, California

Former Mayor, Town of Fulton, Texas

Director Office of Management and Budget, City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Comptroller, Town of Fulton, Texas

When the Sky Actually Falls, Where do We Start?

Risk Assessment

Business Process Improvement

Overall, GFOA members strive to meet a high standard for comprehensive and timely financial reporting - and do exceptionally well. GFOA's award programs recognize almost 5,000 different governments for their achievements. However, no one is perfect and GFOA tracks common deficiencies that are noted in the annual comprehensive financial reports submitted to the Certificate of Achievement (CoA) program. This session will highlight common areas for improvement, criteria with higher rates of nonconformance, and "asterisk" items that may prevent an organization from receiving their award. 

Internal Auditor, Volusia County, Florida

Assistant Professor, Dalton State College, Dalton, Georgia

Deputy Director, Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts, Atlanta, Georgia

Close But No Cigar: Common Errors Identified in GFOA's Award Program

GFOA knows government finance professionals face substantial opportunity costs with their time. Time spent on general purpose external financial reports is time not spent on other forms of decision support and public engagement. With this in mind, GFOA is rethinking financial reporting. This research initiative will examine whether lengthy, technical financial reports published many months in arrears are the most effective way to build trust with constituents and if producing these reports is a good use of the finance officer’s time, particularly if they are not providing accountability to the public. Come to this session to learn more about the research and weigh in on the benefits of traditional financial reporting. 

118th Annual Conference Sessions: Federal Advocacy

Browse by topic:

Sessions for Sunday, June 9

No federal advocacy sessions for June 9

Sessions for Monday, June 10

Halfway Through: What Can IIJA Still Do for You?

Sessions for Tuesday, June 11

Year in Washington: Federal Updates

Update on the Financial Data Transparency Act

What's In It For You: Leveraging the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)

Sessions for Wednesday, June 12

No federal advocacy sessions for June 12