About the City of Largo
The City of Largo, Florida, serves more than 80,000 residents in the Tampa Bay area and manages an annual budget of roughly $250 million across all funds. For years, the city’s budget book was a massive, printed binder that few residents, or even staff, ever opened. Today, Largo uses Euna Budget to build and publish a fully digital budget book that connects city spending to the priorities residents shared through Largo’s 2017 strategic plan.
The Challenge
- The city budget book was thorough, but the printed binder made it difficult for residents and staff to read, understand, and use.
- Largo’s prior digital budget book lived on a separate platform outside its core budgeting software, forcing staff to manually pull data in from other systems each cycle.
- Since adopting a citywide strategic plan in 2017, the team needed a better way to connect budget decisions to community priorities, which was difficult when the underlying tools didn’t connect.
“Before Euna Budget, we moved to another automated tool, but we still had to manually pull in the data. It was a nightmare.” — Will Payne, Performance & Budget Director, City of Largo, FL
The Solution
- Largo implemented Euna Budget Book Studio, integrating budget book production directly into the software the team already uses to build the budget.
- The team relies on the Operating, Personnel, and Capital Budgeting modules within Euna Budget daily, working from one shared data set filtered by department and cost center for the public-facing book.
- Staff across departments can add content, notes, and attachments directly to capital projects and other budget items, so information no longer stays siloed within a single team.
“It’s awesome when technology can automate and streamline processes—it is a real benefit for our team. Having a seamless, easy-to-use publication of everything we’ve done throughout the year is what matters.” — Will Payne
Results
- Largo replaced a binder “nobody would really look at” with a fully digital budget book residents can easily access.
- Residents can now see a direct line between city spending and the priorities they’ve shared with the city, such as bike lanes and trails.
- Staff spend less time on the mechanics of assembling the budget and more time on decision-making and strategy.
- Broader departmental participation has led to stronger collaboration and a better public presentation for residents and elected officials.
“I couldn’t imagine doing it without Euna Budget. I credit the team, and Euna Solutions, for how easy it was to put together an entirely new budget book in just a few months.” — Will Payne
Conclusion
For Largo, the budget isn’t just a financial document. It’s how the city shows residents that their priorities and its spending are one and the same. Euna Budget gave the team room to make that case, turning a once-a-year publishing event into an ongoing practice of collaboration and transparent storytelling for the community.
“With Euna Budget handling the mechanics, we can spend more of our time on decision-making and strategy, and that’s what yields the most impactful financial outcomes for our community.” — Will Payne, Performance & Budget Director, City of Largo, FL