Council boosts online services
December 13, 2005

North Shore City Council has significantly boosted its range of web-based services this year as people log on to www.northshorecity.govt.nz in increasing numbers.

It is now possible to complete secure online payments for parking fines and dog registration renewals 24 hours, seven days a week, using a credit card. Other online services include ordering property information, completing a search of the city's cemeteries and finding out the food safety grading of food premises and eateries.

"It's about empowering our customers to find information or do business with us at a time that is convenient to them. Our customers have a choice," says the council's chief information officer, Tony Rogers.

"They're no longer restricted to getting in the car to visit our offices during working hours, waiting in queues or finding a stamp and envelope," he days.

North Shore City's statistics show people are increasingly visiting the website to find information and complete business transactions with more than 400,000 hits on average each month.

More than 17,500 people have used the council's new online database of the city's food premises to check the food grading status of shops and eateries, since it was introduced a month ago.

"We're really pleased that so many people are using the service and choosing to be more informed when selecting a restaurant or buying food," says North Shore City's environmental programmes manager, Rosemary Hagg.

Next year the council plans to launch an electronic newsletter, via the web.

Chief executive, John Brockies, says North Shore City residents are heavy users of the Internet and it makes sense for council to leverage the power of the world wide web.

"Our electronic services will continue to grow, so we can deliver a faster and more convenient service for our customers," he says.

Free Internet access is available at all North Shore Libraries.

To use council's online services, please visit www.northshorecity.govt.nz, check out the top right-hand menu and select 'online services'.

ENDS

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