That's according to a new survey by the Center for Digital Government that compared how state governments across the country use technology to better serve their citizens. Paul W. Taylor, chief strategy officer for the California research organization, said Michigan was the clear winner because of the way it allows citizens to obtain permits, pay fines and do other transactions online, like making state park reservations and renewing licenses.
"Michigan has changed the citizen and business experience through a broad suite of real-time transactional services," Taylor said.
Michigan centralized most e-government efforts under one URL, www.michigan.gov. From that one Web site, residents can check up on road construction and detours, get state maps and even read magazines through the state library.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm says the state has saved $100 million over the last several years by centralizing technology.
"With our budget as tight as it is, technology is helping every single department," she said. "It's made us much more efficient and responsive to citizens."
The center said Michigan's first-place rating comes after years of strong showings in the group's survey. In 2000, the first year of the survey, the state placed 11th out of 50. It climbed to ninth place in 2001 and second place in 2002. There was no competition in 2003 because the center decided to conduct the survey every other year to provide a longer time horizon.
Michigan's top ranking for e-government at the state level contrasts sharply, however, with a local government survey that the nonprofit Internet advocacy group cyber-state.org released earlier this month. That survey found that only 29 percent of Michigan's 1,800 local governmental units have an Internet presence.
Granholm said she believes the Michigan Broadband Development Authority, a 2-year-old agency that's recently been under fire from telecommunications and cable interests, can help change that by improving the way local governments use technology.
The authority issues grants and loans to companies and local government agencies to expand high-speed Internet access across the state. In a growing number of rural areas, new companies backed by broadband authority funding use wireless signals to beam Internet access into homes by radio waves, instead of cable or telephone DSL.
Autor: MIKE WENDLAND
Quelle: Detroit Free Press, 14.07.2004
