COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Police & Fire Pension Fund (OP&F) recently received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its 2002 fiscal year budget from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The award was presented to OP&F's finance department and James E. Martin, Chief Financial Officer. This is the first year that OP&F has won the award.

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.

"Receiving the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award underscores OP&F's dedication to sound management principles and investment choices," said William J. Estabrook, OP&F executive director. 'OP&F is honored that its budget has been selected as an example for other government agencies around the country."

Since the inception of the GFOA's Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program in 1984, approximately 900 entities have received the award. 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.

Created in 1965 as a result of an act passed by the Ohio General Assembly, OP&F is a multi-employer pension fund. OP&F is one of five statewide retirement systems and provides pension, disability, survivor, and health care benefits to full-time police officers and firefighters in the state of Ohio.

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