Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A Virtual City Hall

I recently suggested that more City government — and every part of municipal life — should be available on-line.

The City already has some examples of good practices, and some bad ones. Geo St. Louis provides a great deal of on-line information about every address, yet it is not possible to return a jury questionnaire on-line to the circuit courts.

Somewhere in between good and terrible practice is the License Collector’s office which allows local businesses to file the paperwork to get a business license on-line (good!) — but charges a 2.75 percent (bad!) "convenience fee" to do so. On a $7,500 license, that’s a $200 lug. For much less money, a local business could buy the fee a nice lunch and send it to City Hall in a taxi.