etownblog.org

Welcome to etownblog.org, a Web site created as a public-service  information resource regarding municipal cost savings through better, more efficient local government.

This site is hosted and moderated by Progeos, a web-based software company dedicated to municipal cost savings and improved services.   As part of our mission we have devoted a portion of our resources to help create this conduit to information, collaboration and cost savings measures to help towns and cities across the United States.

Please read through the posts on this blog for links and stories about municipal cost saving measures.

And — please — take a moment to contribute your input, information links, and other valuable data that you come across.  Together, let’s help expand the scope of knowledge for the public’s benefit.

Sincerely,

The Moderators of etownblog.org

With municipalities cutting back on office hours due to budget cuts the services associated with going to town hall are being limited.  With e-government, many of the services that are offered in town hall can become available over the internet. Whether you need to apply for a permit for an outdoor fire, pay your taxes or notify the town about a maintenance issue these services are all slowly coming online across the country.

But, there is an entity that is well ahead of the curve when it comes to providing municipal services over the internet.  Many colleges and universities are active in the development of online services for their students, faculty and staff.  For example, many university building departments have online service request tools that allow faculty, students and staff to submit work orders over the internet.  These work orders are then processed by the maintenance department, keeping the facilities in great condition and keeping faculty, students and staff happy.  Many universities also allow students to pay for tuition over the internet, a practice very similar to paying for taxes over the internet.  There are several great examples of these types of tools, but many are restricted to campus use.  These tools have turned these offices into a 24/7 service, making the office more accessible to all of the population.

Why can’t more local governments provide simialr online services?  With online tools that cover a number of municipal services operating hours at town hall could be cut back.  A majority of Americans have regular access to the internet either at home or work, meaning that they have 24/7 access to those services that were once only available in person during regular business hours.

Lets take a page from our local universities and start thinking about the impact that online access to municipal services will have on the public.

Progeos, a Connecticut based municipal software and technology firm, has distributed a recent press release that describes their newest low-cost, web-based municipal software.  This new this new technology is aimed at saving municipalities countless dollars in software and technology costs while at the same time improving access and efficiency.

Towns across America discover a Web-based system from Progeos that dramatically reduces land and property management expenses.

80% less installation cost than traditional systems. Leverages a town’s existing technology. Operates with a simple Web browser and PDF reader.

HARTFORD–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Progeos (www.progeos.com), a Connecticut-based municipal software and technology firm, continues to help America’s towns and cities “reinvent government” with a suite of Web-based GIS (Geographic Information System) enabled, e-government services that can save municipalities significant operating expenses, month after month.

Savings occur immediately.

The Progeos system eliminates the need for traditional hardware and software systems. Progeos leverages a municipality’s existing technology, and can be up and running in just days — not the months traditionally required.

Progeos harnesses the efficiencies of the Web.

As the system is entirely Web based, any computer equipped with a Web browser and a simple PDF reader can become a powerful GIS workstation.

Fully modular. Implement only what’s needed — and expand at any time.

Progeos provides plug ‘n’ play services for:

· GIS based land management

· Property management: property look up, abutters lists

· Request management: entering, processing, and executing service requests

· Permit management: creation and tracking of permits

· Code management: code tracking and enforcement

More than money savings. Progeos provides new sources of revenue for your town.

For instance, online Permit Management lets residents apply and get approvals for the vast majority of all of your town’s permit requirements. Create a 24/7 “Virtual Town Hall” for an automated, around-the-clock, profit center — while your residents enjoy enhanced services.

Affordable by any municipality.

Until now, only large cities could afford such advanced GIS capabilities. But now, for a fraction of the cost, Progeos gives your town the tools to save money, generate revenue, and enhance community services. For more information, please visit www.progeos.com.

Contact:

Progeos, Inc.

Matt Schleicher, 860-896-5274

matts@progeos.com

In the previous post we mentioned the work taking place in the state of New York concerning the study and implementation of shared municipal services.  As we know, when done correctly, shared services can save towns and counties valuable tax dollars.  Some examples of shared services include municipalities sharing costs on expensive capital projects that benefit both towns, the regionalization of emergency dispatching services or shared information technology services.

In Connecticut the state government and regional planning agencies have worked together to implement shared services throughout central Connecticut.  The state has set aside grants for a number of purposes with the intention of lowering costs and improving efficiency for regional projects.

One of the lead agencies in the development of these shared services projects is the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG).  CRCOG provides member municipalities guidance when applying for these grants and provides and “excellent opportunity for CRCOG member communities to obtain grant funding for a wide variety of projects.”

The grants target the following areas including IT Application Sharing and Development, Enhancement of Regional GIS and GIS Flight and Mapping Data.

To learn more about these Regional Performance Incentive Program Grants visit CRCOG’s website or view this presentation.

Another topic being discussed for municipal cost savings is the idea of combining some municipal services that may be repeated across several departments.  These redundant services and operations may exist within the same department or between school and municipal departments.  Municipalities across the country are trying to cut or limit known redundant services which could include HR, IT, and purchasing.

It is not just local governments that are thinking about shared services to create cost savings.  Many state governments, including New York State’s Division of Local Government Services are providing aid to municipalities to research any possible cost savings that may arise with the implementation of shared services.  New York State has awarded over 13.5 million dollars to local and county governments to study proposed shared services.

Some of these projects include:

• The Village of Lyndonville and the Town of Yates will work cooperatively to conduct a study to examine the potential cost savings, efficiency and improved levels of service associated with consolidating service delivery and potentially merging the two municipalities into a single entity.
• The cities of Port Jervis and Middletown in Orange County, New York will enter into an inter-municipal agreement for the joint acquisition and shared use of capital equipment.
• The Town of Newstead and Village of Akron in Erie County plan to implement the study recommendation of building a shared highway facility.  By constructing a joint highway facility, Newstead and Akron will save taxpayer dollars, conserve resources, streamline and improve efficiency of operations.
• The City of Batavia and Genesee County are merging the Batavia police information system and the Batavia dispatch operations into a county-wide unified dispatch and information system.
• The Town of North Hempstead will install ‘Great Net’ a web-based intranet platform that would link all villages on the Great Neck Peninsula, the Town of North Hempstead, special districts, fire districts, OEM, and more, all on one common space.  (information from: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/lgss/smsi/smsi2007-08winners.html)

These projects involve a number of different components of municipal government from infrastructure and capital equipment to personnel and technology.  To read about more shared services projects visit New York State’s Shared Municipal Services Incentive Grant Program website

As you may know by now the federal government has been using www.recovery.gov to keep citizens informed about the spending of the federal stimulus dollars.  But what is exactly on www.recovery.gov?  The following will explain some of the features and highlights:

Once users reach www.recovery.gov they are greeted with a graphic that displays some of the featured programs and spending forecasts.  Users can scroll through these featured stories to learn about how their tax dollars are being used.  Also on the home page are a number of press releases about the latest available and spent funds, including a number of stories about recent education funding throughout the country.

To find out about funding opportunities a user can click on the Opportunities link at the top of the page.  Here users can find links to recovery-related jobs, grants and business opportunities with the federal government.  Towards the bottom of the Opportunities page users can find out what is happening in their own state. Users can visit a state’s recovery page to find out about local projects, available stimulus money and future grant opportunities.   To access each state’s recovery web page visit this page.

The final section of www.recovery.gov that I would like to share with you today is the Investments page.  Here users can view the general trends in stimulus spending and what sectors of the American economy are receiving stimulus funds.  Users can also view spending by category, state or by agency.  For state spending, users can click their state on the interactive map to view the federal stimulus dollars being spent.

Overall, www.recovery.gov, coupled with your state’s recovery website provide a good starting resource to local municipal leaders to learn about how federal stimulus dollars are being spent and about future funding and business opportunities.  For more information visit your state’s recovery site to learn more about how your municipality can apply for future stimulus dollars.

Even though budgets are tightening and cities across the country are looking to cut costs municipal departments are looking for ways to save while making their work flows more cost efficient.  In a recent story from KansasCity.com Kevin Wright discusses how the city of Olathe, Kansas could become the “first city in Kansas to undertake a large-scale energy efficiency project that could upgrade its entire water and wastewater systems, saving the city money and opening new avenues for revenue collection.”

Now in the design phase the city is working with outside energy consultants to find areas within the municipality that can be improved to lower costs.  Some of these improvements include “technology upgrades and equipment replacements at wastewater treatment and water treatment plants, improving equipment and power supplies at lift stations, water pumps and water pumping stations, changing to an automated water meter reading and leak detection system, and using solar photovoltaic electricity generation.”

For more on this story and other cost saving measures that are taking place with this project visit the story on KansasCity.com.

The New Jersey State League of Municipalities website has many links to news stories about a number of cost savings measures that municipalities have started across New Jersey. Highlights include stories about shared services aggrements for municipal services and equipment to increasing efficiency at all levels of government.  The article discusses savings to the municipalities that are sharing services but also the savings to tax payers where over a half million dollars are going to be saved over the three years.

Imagine that you’re in a town where you can request services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any computer or phone that connects to the web. In this town, you wouldn’t have to travel to Town Hall to fill out paper forms only to travel back days later to see if your permit was granted or to find out why the potholes weren’t repaired. Town Hall would consume much less paper and may even be able to save energy by shortening hours. Also imagine a town where you could go online anytime and see the impact of government decisions on the green spaces, traffic, industry and other areas of environmental impact. In this town, you could become a more active partner with your local government in driving environmental improvements. This is all possible with today’s technologies. In my opinion, a town where the citizenry and government connect processes and data through the web is a greener town!

Netizen

I was always terrible in geography! I could never keep the names of rivers, mountains and capitals straight. Fortunately, I fell in love with maps through my total lack of direction. So whenever someone points out a new mapping site on the web, I check it out. That’s how I found my way to the University of Connecticut Map and Geographic Information Center.

The experience was truly MAGIC as I explored the changes in towns over the centuries by enabling historical map views as I passed a viewer over contemporary locations. I then thought what I could find out if I could do this for all the types of data my town has. Property, census, school, business and other data could be viewed as maps to see what changed. I imagined understanding (for the first time) zoning and economic decisions and impacts, changes in neighborhoods and businesses, and even changes in parks and green spaces. With my new geography insights and the support of local government in making their/ our data accessible to tools like those of MAGIC, I’m confident I could be a better neighbor and citizen.

-netizen