By By Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
FEB. 6, 2001
Lauderdale County's Web site is up and car tag renewals can now be done over the Internet at www.lauderdalecounty.org or at www.MS1Stop.com.
Lauderdale County Tax Collector Stanley Shannon and Venture Technologies representatives held a ribbon-cutting for the county's Web site at a board of supervisors meeting Monday.
Pete Smith with State Auditor Phil Bryant's office congratulated supervisors and Shannon for their "progressive thinking." Bryant's office helped initiate the project in a pilot group of counties.
The service is also available in Harrison, Jackson and Hancock counties. Additional services are expected to be available later in Lauderdale County. Johnson said more than $50,000 in property taxes were collected in one day through one of the pilot sites. Shannon said people here may be able to pay property taxes and garbage fees via the site in the future.
Johnson said Venture Technologies and its eGovernment Web site, www.MS1Stop.com use the "latest and greatest software in Internet security." Credit card, social security or other pertinent numbers are purged from the system after the transaction is completed, and there are three levels of physical security at their offices in Ridgeland.
Tim Chesney with the Lauderdale County data processing department explained the county Web site's features and links such as information about county officials and departments complete with contact names, numbers and e-mail addresses, weather information and county statistics, bid submissions, employment opportunities and links to the Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau, city of Meridian, state of Mississippi and other Web sites.
Payments for car tags can be made with credit or debit cards, and a $2.50 fee is added to each transaction, Johnson said. Citizens National Bank is handling card transactions at no extra surcharge fee. People who don't have access to the Internet can use the service by calling 601-978-6261 which is an Interactive Voice Response phone pay system.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at sblackmon@themeridianstar.com.