FRANKLIN—Dinah Babb, the Franklin City treasurer, has been a Master Governmental Treasurer since 2011, and this year she’s finally set to get the pay due to one.

The Master Governmental Treasurer certification is earned through the Weldon Cooper Center at The University of Virginia under the Treasurers’ Association of Virginia. It’s the highest certification a governmental treasurer can receive, and it is supposed to come with a 9 percent state-funded pay increase. Unfortunately, once she received the certification, the state cut the program. People who had already received the increase would continue to get it, but those who newly earned the certification would not.

Babb said she was not daunted.

“It was still a benefit to get the certification, not because of all of that, but because of the education provided and the support to do your job better,” she said.

The treasurers’ association continued to fight, however, and after it was declined for a couple of years, this past year it was approved that the money sent to people completing the certification would stay in the pot when those people are out of the system, due to retirement, losing their jobs or losing their certification.

Last year, Babb missed the increase by one number, so she knew she’d be the first person on the list when budget time came around this year. Babb said her interest in the program went beyond the salary increase, so it wasn’t a huge concern.

“This certification has afforded me the knowledge to do the job better,” she said. “You have to take a lot of classes. And you have to stay certified, renewing it every 4 years. And each year, you have to meet certain criteria. The requirements are strict.

“I feel very honored I was able to get certification and become a Master Governmental Treasurer.”

City Manager Randy Martin said having a certified treasurer on hand was a good thing.

“I’m very pleased we have a certified treasurer,” he said. “She is a big part of why we have been able to collect so much of our delinquent taxes and has been responsible for the bulk of change in the department.”

Martin also added that this was 100 percent funded by the state, when he addressed the city council members at a budget work session.