News

County's budget crafter honored as 'gold standard' of public service

Commissioner David Hill, County Manager John Mitchell and commissioners Bill Lapsley and Daniel Andreotta congratulate Amy Brantley on winning the Jack Vogt Award.

By Bill Moss, Published: January 17, 2024

Amy Brantley, the assistant Henderson County manager renowned for her budget-crafting wizardry and instant command of both the big picture and the most arcane detail of government spending and revenue, was honored Wednesday with a lifetime achievement award from the N.C. Local Government Budget Association.

Megan Powell, who was mentored by Brantley when she served on the county’s budget office, presented the Jack Vogt Award before the county commissioners’ annual budget retreate.
“This year's recipient has been referred to by members of this board as the secret weapon in crafting a budget that meets citizen needs while preserving the public purse and being fair to hardworking county employees,” said Powell, who is first vice president of the Local Government Budget Association. “As was stated in one of her nomination letters, her hard work, her determination and her treatment of every employee as a valued part of the whole is the definition of good government.”
Brantley, upon accepting the award, delivered a surprise announcement of her own.
“When I was told I was getting a lifetime achievement award I started out with, ‘Well, I'm not old enough to have a Lifetime Achievement Award,’” she said. “But then you realize that you've done 32 budgets, it is with a little more emotion than I thought I would have today that I would like to announce that this is my final budget.”
Lifetime achievement award recipients, Powell said, “are nominated by their peers and must have at least 10 years of local government experience in North Carolina, a commitment to the field of local government budgeting and evaluation, a commitment to professional development and ongoing learning, innovation in budget and evaluation and a commitment to nurturing, mentoring and educating others in the field.”
In his nomination letter, County Manager John Mitchell called Brantley “the gold standard of what we should strive to in local government both as an employee and as a leader.”
“This board knows her for her leadership in Henderson County,” Powell said. “But you may not know that she's looked to as a resource for professionals across the state. Before most of the budgeting software that local governments use today was available, Amy created a budget process and Excel resources that were shared and replicated by countless jurisdictions across the state. Her process was simple enough for the smallest organizations to adapt to while being robust enough to meet the needs of larger organizations and Henderson County.”
Known as a mentor and an encourager to budget drafters in Henderson County and beyond, she also is a frequent volunteer with the North Carolina Local Government Budget Association and a moderator and speaker at budget conferences.
Commissioner Bill Lapsley also praised Brantley’s contributions.
“I've had the privilege of working with you for the last nine years and I certainly have come to appreciate more and more each year the effort that you go to help this board make the budget a successful tool for us to operate the county,” he said. “There's no better way to reach the pinnacle of your career than to have your peers recognize your contribution and that's what we've seen today.”