What Happened
The city of Taunton, Mass., was the latest to pursue an online permitting capability that will improve services and save money over time.
So What?
While most large cities implemented online permitting years ago, many smaller municipalities have yet to pursue the initiative due to technology and cash constraints. Now a number of third-party software tools have made the process relatively cheap and easy.
The Details
The latest announcement came from Taunton, Mass., a city of 55,000 located 40 miles south of Boston. Like nearby industrial city Fall River, Taunton has had its economic challenges, as hasn’t had extensive municipal resources to throw at technology initiatives such as online permitting. But earlier this month, the Taunton City Council voted to bring the city in line with others that offer online permitting.
The System
The city decided to implement an online permitting system called GeoTMS, which is offered by a company called Des Lauriers Municipal Solutions in nearby Franklin, Mass. The software has several permitting modules—for building permits, commercial and construction permits, fire permits, and business licenses—which enable users to create, track, print, and even renew permits. Businesses, homeowners, and third-parties such as contractors will be able to use the system without having to physically visit the town’s departments.
Costs
According to reports, the city of Taunton will spend approximately $67,000 to cover the software. Certain departments, such as the fire department, will benefit from state grants that will offset some of their start-up costs; grant money was provided by the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District. The SRPEDD has an e-gov initiative that advocates the use of Internet applications to aid in government operations.
Users of the system will pay a 4 percent fee, although that number might drop to 3 percent if enough business is generated through the online system.
More Information
Obviously, Taunton isn’t the first city to pursue online permitting. New York State has its own online permit and licensing Web site, as does Houston. The city of Minneapolis has online permitting for everything from buildings and elevators to signs and soil erosion permits. Others have created specific permitting Web sites for departments such as transportation, which is the case in Seattle and Washington State. Near Taunton, in Massachusetts, cities such as Methuen and Westford allow for online permitting.
To contact Des Lauriers about the Taunton system, call 508-520-0502. Please note that Gov1 has no relationship with Des Lauriers, and does not endorse nor benefit from the company; rather, we are providing the information above as a service to readers who are considering deployment of similar online permitting solutions.
And for additional information on SRPEDD’s e-gov initiative, contact Ross Perry at 508-824-1367.