The information kiosk, located to the left of the treasurer's office windows, allows residents to get total access to their accounts with the city. Want to know how much you paid in property taxes last year, or when your water bill was issued?
It's all right there for Waltham residents who aren't yet connected to the Internet.
According to Treasurer Thomas Magno, his department, in close conjunction with the Management Information Services Department, mayor's office and City Council, have spent the better part of five years taking billing information and databases and transferring them to an updated, fully integrated system.
"You don't go from where we were to where we are now without a lot of support. (Accounts receivable manager) Suzanne Bourgeois and (Assistant Treasurer) Marty O'Malley committed so much time to doing this. We knew we wanted to get to a point where we felt society and government were heading, and that was to e-government," said Magno.
The changes came in four phases over the five years, said Magno.
First, the city switched to software that speaks to other software, meaning the different programs could read documents and use information from each other. Next, the information was integrated into that new system. Then, the city implemented an interactive Web site, where residents could get their financial and billing information from home. The last step, the kiosk, is intended to give the same flexibility and access to residents without a computer or with no Internet access.
"We wanted to be everything to everybody and that's the idea for the kiosk," said Magno. "When you decide to go toward e-government, you are assuming people have access to the Internet and a computer. That's not true of everyone so we decided, then, to have a kiosk system."
The kiosks give residents access to everything they can access online, which is almost everything that has to do with your financial business at City Hall. Anyone can access their bills or past statements and print out the information.
"Right now we're ready to provide e-payment alternatives and solutions," said Magno. "We've already launched payment systems for parking tickets and excise bills online. We're also prepared to add property tax and water bills. With the kiosk, it's like you have a workstation in our office."
Magno said the city may install similar kiosks across town, giving residents easier access to information. "We'd like to think that, at some point in time, we could have a few kiosk systems across the community no different than how banks have ATMs," said Magno.
Magno said the system now available to residents via the kiosks or city's Web site is more advanced than most communities offer. While almost every city lets residents pay some bills online, the Waltham site will give you access to your accounts and payments history. The experience is similar to online banking for a checking account.
The initial response has been excellent, said Magno.
"Our excise recently went online. It's been online for 20 days and we've had 1,040 hits and we've had payments of almost $100,000 on the Web site in that time," said Magno. "You have all the access to all your information. It's just a question of what you want to do."
Autor: Roberto Scalese
Quelle: Daily News Tribune, 24.03.2005
