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City launches OpenGov online budget and a community events calendar to boost transparency and access

October 08, 2025 | Winter Haven City, Polk County, Florida


This article was created by AI summarizing key points discussed. AI makes mistakes, so for full details and context, please refer to the video of the full meeting. Please report any errors so we can fix them. Report an error »

City launches OpenGov online budget and a community events calendar to boost transparency and access
The commission received a demonstration of a new online budget platform built on OpenGov and a new community events calendar launched at events.mywinterhaven.com. Staff said both tools aim to increase transparency and usability for residents and to provide internal dashboards for department budget monitoring.

Katrina Hill, Public Affairs and Communications Director, guided commissioners through the public OpenGov site. Hill showed the table of contents, organizational charts, strategic plan overlays, a 10‑year millage comparison, and fund‑by‑fund pages. Each cost center includes mission statements, performance metrics integrated from the city’s Achieve It platform, detailed budget lines, authorized personnel listings, and itemized account details. Hill pointed out the capital improvement plan pages, which include maps, project narratives, strategic alignment, schedules and budgets for each capital project.

Brandon (Finance) demonstrated internal dashboards that pull nightly financial data for managers. He showed a sample airport fuel dashboard with budget, actual spending by month, and selectable visualizations (gauge, stacked bar, table). Staff said dashboards are private to departments unless shared and that the system updates nightly, giving department leaders near‑real‑time visibility into account balances.

Hill also demonstrated multi‑language translation of the budget content and the new community calendar. The calendar accepts event submissions from community partners, supports categories, and integrates AI‑powered search to help residents find family events, fundraisers, and civic meetings. Staff said events automatically drop off after they conclude, organizers receive training sessions, and the city can set up API feeds with large partners so organizations’ events appear automatically.

Commissioners asked about public training and recorded how‑to resources; staff said they plan trainings, recorded guides, and recurring outreach to community partners. Staff said the tools are mobile responsive, already populated with multiple community events, and were soft‑launched with positive initial feedback.

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