COLUMBUS, Ohio - For the third consecutive year, the Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) has received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its 2004 fiscal year budget from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The award was presented to the OP&F's Finance Department and Stewart Smith, Chief Financial Officer.

The Distinguished Budget Presentation Award reflects the commitment of OP&F to meet the highest principles of governmental budgeting. To receive the award, OP&F has to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. The guidelines assess how well an entity�s budget serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device. In the 20-year history of the award, only 900 entities have received the GFOA budget honor.

"We are pleased to accept this award recognizing the excellence of our budget process, and the soundness of our management and investment decisions," said William J. Estabrook, OP&F Executive Director. "This is a very demanding and competitive process from GFOA, and OP&F is honored that its budget has been selected as an example for other government agencies around the country."

GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving 14,000 government finance professionals in the United States and Canada. The association�s members are dedicated to the sound management of government financial resources.

About OP&F

Created in 1965 as a result of an act passed by the Ohio General Assembly, OP&F is a multi-employer pension fund serving more than 52,000 members. OP&F provides pension, disability, and survivor benefits to Ohio�s full-time police officers and firefighters and their eligible beneficiaries and sponsors health care benefits for these benefit recipients.

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Contact: Dave Graham (614) 628-8396, dgraham@op-f.org