Nov. 15, 2012 – e.Republic’s Center for Digital Government (Center) and Digital Communities Program today announced the top-ranked digital city governments in the 12th annual Digital Cities Survey.
Top-ranked cities in the survey reduced overtime with new technology, embraced BYOD to reduce hardware costs, and developed an app that will keep track of what users are doing to reduce power and fuel consumption. The highest-ranking cities in the survey also showed that consolidating and enabling shared services created huge cost savings and new citizen engagement tools increased citizen feedback and improved services.
“Cities that are investing in technology are seeing tremendous cost savings that are critical to operations and their ability to meet higher demand for services,” said Todd Sander, executive director for the Center. “These cities are true innovators and we applaud them as they work in the spirit of collaboration to provide extraordinary value to constituents despite budget setbacks.”
The survey criteria focused on results achieved by cities, via the use of technology, in operating efficiencies and realizing strategic objectives despite current fiscal constraints.
The survey was open to all U.S. cities with a population of 30,000 or more.
The first-place winners in each of the four population classifications are:
- Louisville Metro Government, Ky. (250,000 or more population)
- Salt Lake City, Utah (125,000 – 249,999 population)
- City of Ann Arbor, Mich. (75,000 – 124,999 population)
- Town of Marana, Ariz. (30,000 – 74,999 population)
Top ten-ranked cities will be honored at a special awards ceremony concurrent with the National League of Cities annual conference in Boston on November 30th.
Congratulations to the 2012 Digital Cities Survey Winners
250,000 or more population:
1st Louisville Metro Government, Ky.
2nd City of Riverside, Calif.
3rd City of Boston, Mass.
4th City of Seattle, Wash.
5th City of Aurora, Colo.
6th City of Corpus Christi, Texas
7th City of Henderson, Nev.
7th City of Charlotte, N.C.
8th City of Sacramento, Calif.
9th City of Fort Worth, Texas
9th City of Long Beach, Calif.
10th City of Jacksonville, Fla.
10th City of Fresno, Calif.
125,000 – 249,999 population:
1st Salt Lake City, Utah
2nd City of Cape Coral, Fla.
3rd City of Winston-Salem, N.C.
4th City of Chula Vista, Calif.
5th City of Olathe, Kan.
6th City of Augusta, Ga.
7th City of Des Moines, Iowa
8th City of Alexandria, Va.
8th City of Irving, Texas
8th City of Modesto, Calif.
9th City of Lakewood, Colo.
10th City of Chesapeake, Va.
75,000 – 124,999 population:
1st City of Ann Arbor, Mich.
2nd City of Roanoke, Va.
3rd City of Arvada, Colo.
4th City of West Palm Beach, Fla.
5th City of Lynchburg, Va.
5th City of Pueblo, Colo.
6th City of Westminster, Colo.
7th City of High Point, N.C.
8th City of Avondale, Ariz.
9th City of Thornton, Colo.
10th City of Richardson, Texas
30,000 – 74,999 population:
1st Town of Marana, Ariz.
2d City of Wauwatosa, Wis.
3rd City of North Port, Fla.
4th City of Danville, Va.
5th Village of Schaumburg, Ill.
6th City of Shawnee, Kan.
7th Carson City, Nev.
8th City of Marietta, Ga.
9th City of Eden Prairie, Minn.
10th Town of Manchester, Conn.
Selected Survey Findings:
Trending Question – “What measures has the city taken to deal with the economic downturn?”
- 90% of cities are pursuing grants and fees to lessen dependence on the city general fund
- 75% are consolidating data centers, servers, applications and staff
- 73% are pursuing shared services/ joint service delivery
- 72% are planning reductions in staffing and operating hours
- 61% are planning agency consolidation, mergers and/or elimination
- 42% may have cuts in public service delivery
- 45 percent plan increased reliance on third parties (private, commercial and not-for-profit)
- Keeping up with use of mobile devices for government business
- Social media technology and management
- Data safety as well as usability
- Integrating mobile computing with smart phones and tablets
- Consolidating services across agencies
- Cloud vendor management
- Policies on BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
- Telework and issues such as code changes
The Center for Digital Government is a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government.
The Center is a division of e.Republic, a national publishing, events and research company focused on smart media for public sector innovation.
Contact:
Janet Grenslitt
Director of Surveys and Awards
jgrenslitt@erepublic.om
