TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
FROM: Javier Carcamo, Finance Director
PREPARED BY: RN Mendoza, Financial Analyst
SUBJECT:
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Approve Agreement with ClearGov Inc. for Digital Budget Book, Capital Budgeting and Transparency Software
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RECOMMENDATION
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Amend the Fiscal Year 2025/26 Operating Budget and establish an additional appropriation of $1,250;
Approve a four year service agreement with ClearGov Inc. for the Digital Budget Book, Capital Budgeting and Transparency Software for a total amount not to exceed $186,751.17;
Waive the competitive bidding requirements; and
Authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute the ClearGov Service Order/Agreement.
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PRIOR ACTION/VOTE
On June 3, 2025, the City Council adopted Joint Resolution No. 25-4837, MLB 25-201; CSD 25-285, RSA 25-35, MHA 25-45 approving the Operating Budget for Fiscal Years 2025/26 and 2026/27, authorizing Unassigned Fund Balances to be set aside in various Operating and Sustainability Reserves, approving the use of previously set aside Sustainability Reserves, and authorizing the transfer of those funds (Vote: 5-0).
CITY COUNCIL GOAL
Maintain a high performing organization that values fiscal sustainability, transparency, accountability and organizational efficiency.
DISCUSSION
Historically, the City of Murrieta (City) Finance Department staff has been using a combination of reports from its Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP or financial software) and manual spreadsheets using Microsoft Excel to prepare, present, and publish its Operating Budget and the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Budget. In Spring 2022, the City embarked on an informal solicitation process and live demonstrations of commercially available governmental budget book software from OpenGov, ClearGov, Questica, and other software companies.
Digital Budget Book Software
In July 2022, the City entered into an agreement with ClearGov Inc. for their Digital Budget Book software under the City Manager’s signing authority. Since using the Digital Budget Book software in 2023 and again in 2025 to prepare the biennial budget book, Finance has streamlined creating the Budget Book by enabling different departments to collaborate directly within this cloud-based software, alongside the Finance team. The Digital Budget Book has also ensured that a current version of the budget is maintained, providing consistent formatting, data integrity, and transparency for our stakeholders. As a result of using this module, the City has continued to receive acclaim and recognition for its Operating Budget Report from the Government Finance Officers Association.
Capital Budgeting Software
The CIP and budget are currently developed using Microsoft Excel, Word, and other applications to prepare, present, and publish the report. Similarly, by fully integrating with a cloud-based software for the CIP budget process, staff can collaborate concurrently with the Finance team. The single CIP module portal will enhance collaboration by eliminating the need for multiple budget templates. It will also provide historical analytics, create a cohesive and transparent budget, reduce data entry and formatting hours, and make the final budget available immediately. Staff have received acclaim and recognition for the CIP budget from the California Society of Municipal Finance Officers and should expect to receive and produce a compliant and award-winning budget by switching to ClearGov’s digital CIP budget software.
Transparency Portal Software
To continue the City’s tradition in conveying and visualizing the City’s budget vs. actuals, programs, and performance metrics to different stakeholders in a transparent online platform, the Finance team proposes moving its transparency portal to ClearGov. The transparency portal, combined with the Digital Budget Book and Capital Budget software, visualizes the impact of each project by sharing interactive details while still presenting a clear and concise narrative on the budget process, key performance metrics, and interactive project and program details. The transparency portal provides stakeholders with a more engaging tool to display financial information, making it more easily understood at both high-level and granular levels.
To enhance efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and the quality of service offered to stakeholders, the Finance team has conducted a review of its current budget book and transparency software services. Staff proposes consolidating the digital budget book, capital improvement budget, and transparency portal into a single vendor solution. The proposed agreement will eliminate the need for multiple software services to achieve a single transparency portal, digital budget book, and capital budget software. In the same vein, some of the City’s neighboring communities in Riverside County and Southern California have chosen ClearGov in the past few years, namely, Lake Elsinore, Beaumont, Corona, Downey, Redondo Beach, South El Monte, Dana Point, La Palma, Lake Forest, Manhattan Beach, and Tustin. To continue the tradition and excellence in providing a transparent budget and a robust, public-facing, and transparent financial platform, staff recommend selecting ClearGov Inc. and awarding a four year contract through June 30, 2029.
Section 3.08.280.G of the Murrieta Municipal Code allows the City Council to waive competitive bidding procedures when it determines that doing so would be inefficient, impractical, or unnecessary. Staff recommend waiving the formal request for proposal process, as it will create inefficiency, requiring renegotiation of the terms of a new module, and could potentially necessitate reallocating resources to re-implement different software. This would delay the preparation of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026/27 CIP and budget and continued use of the Digital Budget Book. As a courtesy, ClearGov has maintained the City’s Digital Budget Book on the City’s website despite a lapse in the current agreement.
FISCAL IMPACT
The total cost of the four year agreement with ClearGov Inc. will not exceed $186,751.17.
The current biennial budget includes an approved allocation of $27,550 for the transparency portal software and $14,162.50 for the digital budget book. To fully fund the initial set-up and additional modules, Finance recommends that the City Council approve an additional appropriation of $1,250 in FY 2025/26 (GL 1102600-62160).
The contract reflects a 20% discount, amounting to approximately $27,720, applied to the initial set-up and continues through the full term of the agreement, due to the inclusion of both the Capital Improvement and Transparency modules. By transitioning from OpenGov to ClearGov for the Transparency Module, the City is projected to save an additional $9,786 over the life of the agreement. This switch not only results in cost savings but also provides access to a new tool for developing the Capital Improvement Budget Book, ultimately reducing both expenses and staff workload.
Future year allocation considerations will be included in a future quarterly budget update and biennial budget process.
ATTACHMENTS
1. ClearGov Service Agreement for Digital Budget Book
2. ClearGov Service Agreement for Capital Budgeting and Transparency Portal