Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky picks OpenGov for budgeting overhaul

The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky has selected OpenGov Budgeting & Performance to replace spreadsheet-based budgeting with a cloud platform for planning, forecasting and personnel management. The move is aimed at reducing manual work, improving cross-department coordination and strengthening support for capital planning and compliance.

Why it matters: - The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky is trying to cut manual work from its annual budget cycle. - A unified platform could reduce duplicate data entry, improve accuracy and speed up budget balancing. - The change also affects how the agency tracks capital projects and handles federal funding and reporting obligations.

What happened: - The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky selected OpenGov Budgeting & Performance to replace disconnected spreadsheet-based budgeting. - The agency serves Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties in Northern Kentucky and downtown Cincinnati. - The transit system operates about 108 fixed-route buses and 34 paratransit vehicles. - Lyndi Whitaker, procurement specialist for the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky, said staff were spending too much time on data entry instead of financial planning.

The details: - The agency’s old process relied on separate departmental spreadsheets. - Budget staff had to reload personnel data manually each cycle instead of rolling it forward year to year. - Capital project planning was limited to one-year cycles, with no link between multi-year project data and core budget numbers. - Frequent recalculations made rapid budget balancing difficult. - There was also a risk that departments would keep working in outside spreadsheets after submission, which could create duplicate data entry. - OpenGov’s platform includes year-over-year data rollover to avoid redundant personnel re-entry. - The system also offers on-demand recalculation to support faster budget balancing. - OpenGov said the platform integrates with accounting, timekeeping and fleet maintenance data. - The software includes GFOA-compliant budget book production and transparency publishing tools. - The platform also includes capital improvement planning tools for multi-year project tracking. - Implementation will start with budget development, forecasting and personnel planning.

Between the lines: - The purchase signals a broader push by local agencies to move from spreadsheet-heavy workflows to centralized planning software. - The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky is prioritizing tools that can support staff with different technical skill levels. - The emphasis on integration suggests the agency wants budget planning tied more tightly to operational and maintenance data.

What's next: - The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky will begin implementation with core budgeting modules. - The first phase will focus on budget development, forecasting and personnel planning. - The agency expects the new platform to improve collaboration across departments and shorten budget-cycle work.