THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502230127
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
You hear a lot of talk these days about making government more efficient and more sensitive to the needs of citizens.
Compared to some of the grand schemes politicians have come up with, improvements to something as mundane as an automobile windshield sticker might seem hardly worth mentioning.
But the folks at City Hall have proven that even little changes can make a big difference.
Chesapeake's auto decals are better this year in more ways than one:
They'll cut down on the growing problem of sticker theft because each is imprinted with the make, model and identification number of the specific vehicle for which it is issued.
They'll increase property tax collections by making it more difficult to avoid registering vehicles.
They're easier to distribute. For the first time this year, citizens didn't have to stand in long lines, not even on deadline day. There are fewer forms to fill out because, in most cases, the computer already has the necessary information stored in its memory.
All this, plus the common-sense convenience of the stickers' uniform color and a deadline date consistent with most other cities and counties in the region, are evidence that the phrase ``government efficiency'' is not an oxymoron.
Never mind that an unfortunate flaw in the sticker's design makes it susceptible to damage from windshield-cleaning products. No new system is without its bugs, and that one is easily fixed.
Credit is due to Dick Pokorny, the city systems analyst who gave birth to the idea and to City Treasurer Barbara O. Carraway, who recognized the genius behind Pokorny's brainchild and made it a reality.
Ms. Carraway has estimated that the new-found efficiency saved the city the equivalent of half the salary of a clerk. That's money in the bank.
But the greater savings might be in the time citizens spend standing in line. Think about it: The clerk's office sells 3,000 stickers a day. It's a fair guess that the computerized distribution system saved each of those motorists at least a 10-minute wait in line. That's 30,000 minutes or 500 hours or almost three week's worth of productive time each day that has been restored to people's lives. Wow!
If a few simple changes in a little yellow sticker can accomplish such wonders, imagine what the effect would be should similar improvements be made in the really big things that governments do. by CNB