An annual survey recently found Fairfax County to be the second most digital county in the country. Though the formerly top-ranked county was dethroned by Florida’s Orange County, officials still tout the distinction as a success.
“I think it is a recognition that we have a very robust e-government program,” said Deputy County Executive David Molchany.
Fairfax County spends about $74 million each year on information technology, and maintains a substantial Web presence. Molchany pointed to multimedia kiosks, interactive voice response, mobile access for PDAs, the Access Fairfax center, cable television channel and text-based messaging for emergency messages as reasons for the high ranking.
The survey was based on more than 100 criteria concerning “online service delivery, infrastructure, architecture and governance models,” according to the Center for Digital Government, which conducted the annual study with the National Association of Counties.
This fiscal year, the county will begin a redesign of its www.fairfaxcounty.gov Web site that could change how the county presents data online, Molchany said. A new committee has also been formed to examine how land-use data can be made more accessible to citizens, he said.
