Borough May be on Brink of Digital Age

The ease and instant gratification of online bill payment has spread to nearly every aspect of daily life, from phone and utility bills, to online banking. Now, the Matanuska Susitna Borough is poised to follow suit, and may make government services as easy to resolve as a PayPal purchase

KTNA’s Lorien Nettleton has more

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The Mat Su Borough is poised to join the digital age by making several legal services available online. The Borough Assembly will discuss a resolution at tonight’s meeting, which, if passed, will clear the way for the Borough’s technology department to provide online access to a broad range of services such as business licensing, pool passes, and parking permits.

Shannon Post is the Borough’s Chief Information Officer, and she says the resolution would bring the borough into the 21^st century, and make the government easier to navigate for the average citizen.

Post quote 1:
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The Resolution before the assembly would re-appropriate leftover money from another IT project which was recently completed well under budget. Post says online access to services is the number one request the IT department receives, saying they receive requests on a daily basis.

Making all the various permitting and payment processing for borough government available in one location will be no small task, but Post says extending online services to all aspects of government will ultimately provide an ease of access that will benefit all citizens, from residents working remotely on the north slope to entrepreneurs overseas, to rural residents who aren’t well-disposed to make a two-hour drive to Palmer to file for a parking permit or pool pass.

Post quote 2:
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The digital services plan will also investigate the option of installing self-service kiosks in Borough buildings to help cut down on lines and speed up transactions.