Little Rock Rolls Out Paperless Option for Businesses

Seal of Little Rock
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :
Tuesday, Sep 15, 2015

Media Release

City of Little Rock Public Relations (501) 371-6801

City of Little Rock Scott Massanelli, 501-371-4532 smassanelli@littlerock.gov or Information Network of Arkansas Bob Sanders, 501-324-8915 bob@ark.org

Business owners can now go green with the City of Little Rock through a new paperless e-notification system that enables users to receive reminders when it’s time to pay license fees at each stage of the business cycle. This convenient option is part of the Little Rock Business License payment system, which lets businesses access their account at lrbusinesslicenses.org to assess, pay fees and acquire a license – all without ever needing to visit City Hall.

“We’re excited for the release and anticipate businesses will be as well.”

“Our citizens are shopping, paying bills and applying for services online more than ever before,” city of Little Rock Treasury Manager Scott Massanelli said. “We are proud to offer this much-needed online service to help make our business owners’ interactions with City Hall as quick and efficient as possible. The new online system will also save our city government money by greatly reducing the number of statements my staff needs to print and mail.”

In its first year alone, the paperless e-notification system is expected to save nearly 1,040 hours of staff time and almost $4,450 in other costs previously required to print licenses and mail assessments and statements. The approach is also environmentally friendly, reducing the city’s use of nearly 20,000 pieces of paper.

Business license renewal emails will include a link that prompts the business owner to log into their secure account on the City of Little Rock website. From there, license fees can be paid with just a few clicks or taps on a mobile device.

The City’s Treasury Management division partnered with the Information Network of Arkansas (INA) to offer this service and help streamline the license renewal process for business owners.

“Work began many months ago between our IT department and INA to make the system user-friendly yet secure,” Treasury Management Operations Analyst Amanda McKinney said. “We’re excited for the release and anticipate businesses will be as well.”

Little Rock business license and tobacco permit payments are due January 1 each year. Business owners can pay their license fees online with Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express credit cards through a secure payment processing system. Payments can also be made in person at Little Rock City Hall, by phone, or by mail.

About the City of Little Rock

The City of Little Rock is the seat of Arkansas government and home to more than 200,000 citizens. Its focus is to provide a safe environment for those citizens to live, work, and play and to enrich the quality of life by providing efficient delivery of vital services. The City supports economic development by providing opportunities to retain, form, and attract businesses. Working alongside community partners, Little Rock aims to ensure access to opportunities for recreational, creative, and educational experiences. Information about the services provided by the City can be found at littlerock.gov.

About Information Network of Arkansas

The Information Network of Arkansas (INA) is a public-private partnership between the state of Arkansas and the Arkansas Information Consortium (AIC) that helps Arkansas state and local government entities Web-enable their information services. Little Rock-based AIC is part of e-Government firm NIC's (EGOV) family of companies. INA operates Arkansas.gov, the official website of the state of Arkansas, which offers more than 1,100 state and local online services.

About NIC

Founded in 1992, NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV) is the nation's leading provider of official government websites, online services, and secure payment processing solutions. The company's innovative eGovernment services help make government more accessible to everyone through technology. The family of NIC companies provides eGovernment solutions for more than 3,500 federal, state, and local agencies in the United States. Forbes has named NIC as one of the “100 Best Small Companies in America” six times, most recently ranked at No. 36 (2014), and the company has been included four times on the Barron’s 400 Index. Additional information is available at http://www.egov.com.