Marana residents could soon be using the town's Web site to pay their water bills or look up public records.
The town paid $420,000 for new computer servers that are expected to be installed next month.
The servers were needed because the town is running out of storage space on the current computers, which are more than three years old, said Anthony Casella, Marana's information technology director.
The town chose to buy IBM servers, which use storage technology developed in Tucson.
The town's Web site currently allows visitors to look up Town Council agendas and send comments to officials.
The new servers will allow residents to pay water bills, court fees and building permits online, Casella said.
Residents will be able to track the status of permits for which they've applied and look up maps on everything from the latest residential development to where sewer lines are being installed.
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The town will also put public records, such as detailed budget information, online for residents to view.
The services could be online by July 2008.
"We've been wanting to do these things for years," Casella said.
Besides boosting Web site services for residents, the servers also strengthen the town's internal computer network.
The servers are configured differently from traditional servers, allowing information to be accessed more quickly, Casella said.
Also, less staff time will be wasted reconfiguring the old servers to make room for the growing needs of town departments.
The server — much like the town's municipal complex — is built to allow future growth.
This is done by using what's called a blade server system, where additional storage can be added later.
"There will be much more storage space for the town," Casella said. "As the town grows, we have much more data."
While the fact that the technology was developed in Tucson didn't have an impact on the town's decision to buy from IBM, Casella said it's nice to not have to go far for support.
Lon Levitan, a spokesman for IBM, said the sale was a deal for the town and greater community.
"They're getting to use technology from their own backyard," he said.
Providing public records and putting town maps online would be a great step, but the online bill pay isn't necessary, said Wheeler Abbett, a town resident.
Abbett, who uses online banking to manage his finances, said the service might be redundant.
"Normally I would think you would pay that through your bank," said Abbett, a former planning commission director who will have a library near Continental Ranch named after him.
They're getting to use technology from their own backyard.
Lon Levitan
IBM spokesman
