More National Recognition for Dutchess County
County ranked 2nd in nation for use of technology

Poughkeepsie… The 2014 Digital Counties Survey ranks Dutchess County Government second in the nation for its use of information and communications technology, for counties with population size between 250,000 – 499,999.      The annual survey, conducted by the Center for Digital Government (CDG) and the National Association of Counties (NACo), recognizes the nation’s best examples of using technology to improve services and boost efficiencies.  Dutchess County has been ranked in the nation’s top ten for more than a decade.

“Being innovative and strategic with technology use enables us to continue to expand our service to our residents while driving down costs,” said Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro.  “The ways people get information and seek assistance keeps evolving and we have continued to adapt in how we communicate and serve our residents with innovate offerings.”

“Counties across the country are using technology to enhance services, maximize efficiency and save money,” said NACo Executive Director Matthew D. Chase.   “The Digital Counties Survey recognizes counties’ best practices and effective use of technology to better serve their communities.”

Dutchess County’s award winning survey submission focused on broad range of cost saving and citizen engagement initiatives OCIS has undertaken, in particular the County’s expansion of Information Technology (IT) shared services to allow local municipalities to take advantage of the County’s broad array of IT infrastructure.

Over the past year, as part of County Executive Molinaro’s efforts to expand shared service opportunities in order to drive down the total cost of government and more effectively serve residents, OCIS has made many of its services available to local municipalities including PC /server tech services, network services, software development and  IT consulting and assessments.

Most recently, OCIS has partnered with the City of Beacon to develop and maintain the City’s new website: www.cityofbeacon.org.   The new website incorporates many of the advanced features found on Dutchess County’s award winning website dutchessny.gov as well as features developed specifically for Beacon and other future municipal sites.

Dutchess County remains committed to citizen engagement with public outreach and information services including:

• DutchessDelivery service that allows users to subscribe to more than 50 broad ranging topics and have updates delivered directly to them via email or in some cases text message.
• County Clerk Document Search System allows users to search and view images of 1,300,000 filed land and legal documents as well as download documents for a modest fee.
• ParcelAccess offers a wide variety of property data from numerous sources in one online portal, allowing users to conduct address searches, estimate taxes, access appeal information and much more.   ParcelAccess is the County’s most utilized public web application, serving millions of pages to users annually.
• Social Media – Dutchess County Government is active on Facebook and Twitter to inform and engage residents quickly and easily.    The County’s Office of Emergency Management recently launched its new Facebook page and it has quickly become an important information source during storm warnings and other emergency updates.

OCIS Commissioner Timothy Mahler said, “It’s rewarding to be acknowledged nationally for the County’s IT Services and more importantly a confirmation that we’re providing innovative services to the public, municipalities and local businesses. This would not be possible without an amazing OCIS staff and my management team who work so hard to help keep Dutchess at the forefront of County computer services.”

The Digital Survey national ranking is the second national recognition for Dutchess County Government this month. Earlier this month, the Dutchess County Budget Office was presented with the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its 2014 budget from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA).

“Our drive to engage our residents, innovate our services and transform how government operates has the caught the attention of the state and the nation. I am grateful to our entire team of county employees who are doing award winning work in order to best serve the residents of Dutchess County,” concluded County Executive Molinaro.