Information Services

“I found this site to be one of the most well designed and user friendly I have ever explored. I will return often.” This comment is typical of the citizen reaction to Lexington County’s web site, www.lex-co.com. (Even this site name was selected because it was easy to remember and use.)

In addition to its straightforward look and feel, Lexington County’s web site provides citizens with opportunities to conduct business with the county and obtain information previously available only by visiting county offices or by purchasing specific publications.

Online Tax Payment and Tax Assessment Data

Within a few months of the General Assembly’s authorization of the acceptance of credit card payment of property taxes, Lexington County citizens were able to make property tax payments online. The online payment system used a facsimile of the original tax notice that includes a breakdown of the taxes levied for each taxing entity.

About two thirds of the nearly 2000 online tax payment transactions completed during the system’s first year were for the payment of vehicle taxes. So far, over $767,000 in revenues has been paid online.

In the month of November 2002 alone, there were almost 1,000 visitors to the Online Tax section. The section is useful for looking up information as well as for paying taxes.

The online tax system was linked to assessment data and, for real property, to online map information. Property tax searches can be done by parcel number, tax notice number, property location, or owner/payer by tax year. Property sale information is available. Assessment and related property information is available by owner name, address, location, parcel number.

By the end of February, the county will add an “Online Tax Estimator” that will allow citizens to calculate the approximate property tax bill of real property or a vehicle that they are thinking about purchasing.

Geographic Information System (GIS) Map Services

Much more than tax-related mapping information is available on the county’s Geographic Information System (GIS) web pages. Fourteen years of GIS Database development work has come to full flower in the nine map service categories available now.

For example, from the beginning, road locations were plotted based on digitized road centerlines. This has paid off in more accurate information for physical planning and permitting as well as enhancing the county’s Public Safety Communications Center with its new Automated Vehicle Locator system that has been implemented to help improve county EMS response times and ambulance deployment plans.

The accuracy of the road maps also resulted in FEMA selecting Lexington County in the mid ‘90’s to be the first location east of the Mississippi River to receive digital flood maps that are now available on the county web site on the “Engineering and Surveying” map service. This map service also includes soils, wetlands, and topography as well as the location of every geodetic benchmark located in the county.

There are nine GIS “map services” in all. They are: Engineering and Surveying (mentioned above); Property Search (parcel maps linked to assessment and tax information); 2001 Property Data (“snapshot” of property and assessment data for 2002 property tax year); Political Boundaries (precincts and state and county single member districts, municipalities, magistrate and school districts); County Address Range Directory (road address ranges used to identify which precinct, district, town or zip code is associated with an address); Government Services (public facilities shown on maps); Population and Growth (census, building permit, and historical and projected traffic data); Road and Parcel Locator (for locating roads and parcels using up to 52 search criteria); and Current Data (the most popular service because it contains all development-related data mapped on the most up-to date parcel coverage).

The County’s GIS Department has been recognized for this accomplishment by being the recipient of the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s “Special Achievement in GIS Award” in 2002. The county’s GIS system has several outstanding features that now make it possible to provide a wide variety of data that is more complete and accurate than usually encountered.

GIS Map Services are one of the most used services on the county’s web site. In November it had visitors.

Other Online Services

Procurement. Prospective vendors can download forms needed for vendor registration. They can view and download bid and award information. In addition, they can learn about county procurement processes and surplus property sales. This section improves access to procurement information and serviced 943 individual visitors in November.

Personnel. Prospective applicants for employment can look at weekly job postings and download blank application forms for submission to the SC Employment Security Commission. The job search page was visited 4,559 times in November placing the Personnel section in the “Top 10” visited sections of the web site.

Future Services. By June the county will add an “Online Ombudsman” feature that citizens can use to communicate problems and ask questions. It will be linked to the GIS system so that citizen can pinpoint a location to report a problem or obtain information about services and/or political or service area boundaries applicable to it. The county also plans to add the capability for people to pay traffic tickets to the county’s central traffic court.

Other Popular Features

Sheriff’s Department Page. The Sheriff’s page contains important information about Crime Stoppers, Neighborhood Watch and other crime-fighting programs. The “Most Wanted” page is one of the most popular on the web site, with 816 views in November.

Department Information. Department information is another popular feature of the web site. Service and fee schedules and special service information are provided. Forms are made available for downloading. For courts, roster information is posted. Information is provided about County Council and its meetings. The County Code of Ordinances can be read online. Information concerning each department and services that are provided are readily available to the community and proved to be a valuable resource to 6,467 visitors seeking specific department information in November.

Growing Usage

The average monthly number of visitors to the county’s web site in the most recent quarter has increased to over 55,000, representing a 57% increase in visitor usage over the first quarter of the year. This activity is generating over 511,251 “hits” per month. In November, about 1/5 of the total traffic to the site was return traffic that had used the site before, indicating that site visitors found it useful.