Case Study: City of Ashland, Oregon saves $110K annually and launches first-ever interactive Budget Book with OpenGov

How Ashland, OR Saved $110K Annually and Produced the First-Ever Interactive Budget Book

The City of Ashland, OR (pop. ~22,000; $150M annual budget) faced slow, manual financial processes: its ERP and Excel-based budgeting couldn’t deliver timely, detailed reports, required multiple staff to compile data, lacked transparency, and eroded public trust—especially after a financial analyst position went unfilled, creating a $110K workload gap.

Ashland implemented the OpenGov Cloud for budgeting, reporting, workforce planning, Stories and civic engagement, enabling real-time analysis and self-serve data access. The city saved $110K annually (one FTE), cut budget-preparation effort by 67%, saved 3–4 hours monthly on reporting, reduced rework from 15% to 0%, and launched its first interactive Budget Book—restoring trust and accelerating decision-making.

City of Ashland, Oregon

Mark Welch

Administrative Services Director