“It’s another step toward bringing technology into the auditor’s office that did not exist before and which makes it all the better for taxpayers,” Clark County Auditor John Federer.
Clark County commissioners on Tuesday approved plans to advertise for bids for a online dog licensing vendor that would establish a secure site for the Internet service. There is no cost to the county, officials said.
When the site is created, Federer’s office will join a growing number of county auditors offering online dog licensing registration, said Michael E. Kovack, Medina County Auditor and president of the County Auditor’s Office Association of Ohio.
Kovack said Medina County was among the first to begin offering dog tag registration via the Internet in 2002 and estimates about 35 percent of counties in Ohio currently provide the service.
The Franklin County Auditor’s Office began offering online registration in 2001 and Montgomery, Champaign, Clermont and Miami counties also offer the service.
Wendy Oehlers, of Fairfield Computer Services, said her company has set up Internet dog license registration for more than 30 counties.
Oehlers said credit card numbers are secure and her company charges users a convenience fee starting at $2.
Tanya R. Schilling, county information technology director, said the county sold about 25,000 dog tags last year and have sold about 23,800 this year.
Currently, dog tags are purchased downtown in the A.B. Graham Building and at satellite offices and those offices are inundated with customers and mailed in registration requests between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31 when dog tags are renewed, Schilling said.
Online dog registration will give residents an additional option, official said.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Commissioner John Detrick said. “It’s makes purchasing a dog license much more convenient.”
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