Prince George’s Improves Its Rank Among the Top Digital Counties in America
By Greg Wright
Prince George’s is one of the top counties in the nation when it comes to providing Internet and other digital services to residents, making the county government one of the most technologically savvy in America, according to a recent survey.
Prince George’s County came in 5th place in a 2009 “Digital Counties Survey” from the National Association of Counties and eRepublic’s Center for Digital Government. That is up from 9th place in 2008.
Other Maryland counties got top marks in the annual survey. Anne Arundel County tied with Prince George’s for fifth place along with California’s Alameda County. And neighboring Montgomery County beat out Prince George’s, placing second place in the nation behind No. 1-ranked Oakland County in Michigan.
However, Prince George’s County’s ability to move up four places in the rankings in just a year is an impressive feat, considering the economy is ailing and Prince George’s has fewer resources than Montgomery or Anne Arundel counties, said Tanya Gott, director of the Prince George’s County Office of Information Technology and Communications.
“If you look at their staffing and us, we’re amazing,” said Gott, whose office has 68 employees and 45 contractors.
Prince George’s County (http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov) uses some of the newest digital tools available to interact with residents and provide information, including blogs or online journals, YouTube online videos, and social network pages such as Facebook and MySpace. You can go to the county Web site to get an ever increasing amount of information and services, including instant election results, building permit status reports and online property tax information. Some of the other features on the county government Web page that Gott is proud of include Livable Community County Maps that allow residents to find shopping, childcare and other services near their homes with the click of a computer mouse.
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