The Web site was launched in February, and it allows citizens and businesses to order copies of official records -- including civil judgments, marriage certificates and property records -- from Clerks of the Court throughout Florida. Constituents can ask for either certified or non-certified documents.
The Web site was produced by the Florida Local Government Internet Consortium, which includes the Florida Clerks of Court and Florida Tax Collectors, in partnership with the Florida Association of Court Clerks Services Group and the National Information Consortium, said Chris Hughes, Okaloosa County tax collector and president of the Florida Local Government Internet Consortium.
"All 67 tax collectors and clerks of courts are all using the site, and we have approached the property appraisers to join us, as well as other constitutional officers," Hughes said. "We're also in negotiation with the [Florida] League of Cities and the [Florida] Association of Counties."
The site has been in the making for approximately a year and a half and was created out of the formerly separate efforts of the clerks of the court and the tax collectors, he said.
"The tax collectors purchased 67 domain names, and we wanted each individual county to have a local portal that had the same look and feel for the taxpayers as the state's Web site, MyFlorida.com," he said. "At the same time, the clerks of the court were developing an Internet package that they called 'Ipass' that would allow users to go on the Net to pay traffic citations or do any of the things they could get from a clerk of the court office, the customer could go to one Web site and purchase records or pay traffic tickets in multiple counties."
The governor's State Technology Office suggested the two groups work together to make sure their efforts were efficient, Hughes said, and plans are in the works to add more services to the site.
Information sharing is also a key component of the new Web site, he said, using the example of renewing license plates.
"We sell license plates, and if you came into my office and stood in line to renew your license plate, if you have outstanding traffic tickets that are issued by another agency, then a flag will come up from the state DMV that your license could possibly be suspended," he said. "If that's the case, I don't know why it's suspended, and I can't renew your license plate.
"Under the system that we're developing, you could go to a tax collector's Web site to renew your license plate, and, this time, instead of saying, 'Sorry, can't help you," it will say, 'You can't renew your license plate because you have an outstanding ticket in Key West, Jacksonville and Pensacola. Put in your credit card. We will pay all the traffic tickets, restore your driver's license from suspension and renew your license plate in one transaction,'" he said. "That's our goal and, in about a year and a half, we hope to be there."
Later this spring, child-support payments and traffic-citation payments are expected to be added to MyFloridaCounty's suite of services.