IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Even with a $4.5 billion state budget deficit looming, Minnesota needs to put more money and effort into making state government services accessible through the Internet, a Citizens League report released today says. The report, "Getting Online Government Back on Track," says the deficit actually presents an argument for adopting more electronic automation. Examples of "e-government" services include Minnesota's online vehicle license tab renewal and its "e-file" system that lets people pay their taxes using their credit cards or an electronic fund transfer from a bank account.

The technologies behind these online services allow government to provide faster, better and cheaper services to its citizens and businesses, just as they do for the private sector, like when airlines save money by issuing electronic tickets over paper ones, the report argues.

"It's very timely," said the study's co-author, John Gunyou, a former state finance commissioner under Gov. Arne Carlson. "This is an area where the state can expand services and save money."

The study puts no price tag on the improvements, however. The cost would depend upon what transactions the state decides to make electronic, Gunyou said.

The Pawlenty administration is interested in expanding its e-government offerings and believes that recent software improvements to state computer systems will allow it to add more electronic services without additional cost, Finance Commissioner Dan McElroy said.

With a recent software upgrade, for instance, the state no longer prints out paycheck stubs, saving it $500,000 a year, he said. Employees cash their checks electronically and visit a Web site to print out their stubs, he said.

Next year, the state plans to send out its W-2 forms electronically, saving $40,000, and the Department of Administration is putting together a team of experts to target more e-government opportunities. "So we're making some progress," McElroy said.

Steven Clift, a Minneapolis technology consultant who helped create the state's North Star Web site in 1995, believes that expected slashes to services make more e-government "absolutely essential."

"Offices are going to close, hours are going to be shortened; citizens are going to have to change their behavior and go online to get the services they want and need," said Clift, who has chided the state for dragging its feet on upgrading its e-government offerings. He was not part of the Citizens League study's 27-member group.

Only 4 percent of all state government transactions are online, the Citizens League said. In the 1990s, Minnesota used to rank in the top 10 among states using innovative technologies such as the Internet, but it slipped to the middle of the pack, mainly because it stood still while other states like California and Washington raced ahead.

Quelle: TwinCities