Focus on financial leadership.(president's message)

As GFOA embarks on its second century of excellence to governments throughout the world, I am honored to serve as your 100th President. Our association has flourished through recessions, depressions, world wars, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters. If challenging times test character, the leadership of our past presidents, executive boards, and GFOA staff, who have maneuvered GFOA though these difficult times to become the recognized standard of excellence for state and local governments, fulfills the founders' vision of our organization.

Clearly, state and local governments have many challenges before them. Federal budget deficits continue to result in the shifting of funding from the federal government to state and local resources. Health care costs continue to strain government budgets, both as an employer and a provider. Unfunded pension liabilities are large and growing, which will not only challenge service delivery within existing budgets, but also jeopardize commitments that have been made to employees and retirees. With all of these challenges, we know that we cannot educate and advocate in a vacuum. While GFOA has been around the longest, it will be very important for us to strengthen ties with organizations that share our ideals and commitment to good government.

Over the course of the next year, I want to focus on financial leadership to promote enhanced participation and the sharing of information to improve operating efficiencies and lower costs. In Chicago, for example, the CFOs of nine local area governments meet monthly to address common issues and concerns. This collaboration has resulted in collectively bidding our employee pharmaceutical purchases and employee health insurance, saving us all millions of dollars. I want GFOA to serve as an incubator for this type of alliance in other parts of the country.

In an increasingly complex world, we must also lead efforts to employ technology to improve efficiencies, lower costs, and enrich the lives of citizens in our jurisdictions. I want that technology to expand access to services in our governments, especially through various e-government platforms such as 311-systems and government Web sites designed to increase citizen participation and awareness of community policies and events.

I also want to ensure that GFOA members have greater opportunities to communicate and share information with one another and utilize the many tools available on our Web site. This network is one of the most important benefits of being a member of GFOA.

I believe that we must increase the participation and influence of every member of GFOA in shaping national, state, and local debate on a variety of important issues with long-term financial implications for state and local ...