Results show that since the Digital Counties Survey's inception in 2003, the number of online services offered by participating counties increased by 12 percent.

The Center for Digital Government worked with the National Association of Counties to produce the 2005 Digital Counties Survey, which seeks innovative counties providing citizens with increased access to government information and services through information technology.

The survey separated counties by population into four categories: less than 150,000; 150,000-249,999; 250,000-499,999; and 500,000 or more.

The survey asked 22 questions to assess each county's overall approach to e-government solutions. The four winning counties showed they understand what it takes to shepherd county government into a digital future.


Apply Online
Allowing citizens to apply for county jobs online is a growing service.

In Fairfax County, Va. -- winner of the 500,000 or more population category -- job seekers can only apply online for county employment. The Application Information Management System (AIMS) went live on Feb. 28, 2004 and collected more than 80,000 résumés in the first year, according to Gregory Scott, manager of Fairfax County's Public Access Technologies. He explained that once applicants submit an application online, they can check the status by using AIMS or the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, available to them any time of day.

Prince William County, Va. -- winner of the 250,000-499,999 population category -- processes 80 percent of its job applications online. The online service became available in May 2005 and has already received 2,414 applications, said John Roessler, the county's e-government manager.

In Charles County, Md. -- winner of the less than 150,000 category -- 594 applications were submitted for the first position posted online, and 1,000 applications were received in the first week, according to county CIO Richard Aldridge. In Charles County, all job openings can be applied for online.


Internal Solutions
Budget restrictions are a constant challenge for county governments, and outsourcing's expense can give CIOs pause as they consider options to solving a particular problem.

By training his staff with cost-efficient methods such as books and CDs, and rolling up his own sleeves to help out, Aldridge said his team accomplished a lot during the rapid five-year expansion of the county's e-services. Offering knowledge through career-enhancement training also keeps his employees loyal and excited about what they're learning, said Aldridge, whose department experienced zero turnover in five and a half years.

That training included the opportunity to learn more about open source technology. "One of the nice things about using open source software is that you get to see the code yourself. That way, you're not restricted or held up by not doing something because you can't afford it," he said.

By developing solutions in-house, Aldridge said, the county's cost savings are noteworthy.

The county Web site is one example. Aldridge explained that creating a Web site would usually cost millions of dollars when outsourced and another million per year to maintain. Charles County's Web site -- developed and maintained in-house -- only costs about $60,000 a year to maintain. This frees up money to invest in other projects, he said, and allows him to put priorities in order.

SINEUP is one recent application developed by the IT department in Charles County, where the senior population grew by 5,000 between 2000 and 2004.

Funding for senior centers relies in large part on the amount of senior participation in programs or activities offered at the centers, so participants were asked to sign in when attending a center to take part in a program or activity. The number of participants per activity each day was keyed into a statewide database.

There was a problem with this system, Aldridge said, because senior citizens were participating but weren't marking their attendance because each event had a separate