Gwinnett Daily Post

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LAWRENCEVILLE -- Gwinnett's government launched a new, user-friendly website this weekend.

The new site features photos and specialty pages, including a comprehensive look at local services and partner organizations.

In the "Your Money" section, a calculator computes where tax dollars. Residents can put in their own address for personalized information.

Designed by Buford company Mighty 8th Media at a cost of $19,000, the majority of the work was produced in house, said Communications Director Joe Sorenson.

With one full-time webmaster, Sorenson said the work began at the beginning of the year.

"It's taken most of the year to get where we are with very limited resources," he said. "The hard part was the (information technology) part."

Because of a new trend in organizing information, the site has tabs specialized for businesses, government, residents and visitors to "make it more relevant," Sorenson said. The older model, which allows searches by departments and services and has tabs for employment and calendar items, is still there.

While proud of the "Your Money" functions, Sorenson said that portion is not complete. "That's not the whole story because property taxes don't pay for all of government," he said. "We'd like for that to be a clearing house of information for how money is spent."

People can also personalize the site by registering. If they are interested, they can sign up for alerts for information like parks calendars and planning agendas.