GOING electronic is saving the Wanganui District Council time and money with the number of infringement notices it issues.
Earlier this month the council began sending its notice and payments to the Ministry of Justice online.
Julian Harkness, council's chief financial officer, said infringement notices had increased from about 30 to 60 a week and this was mainly because council staff were issuing more dog infringement notices and parking tickets.
"The council's been issuing more dog infringement notices as part of its policy clamping down on dangerous dog offences," Mr Harkness said.
"Parking infringement notices have increased due to higher staffing levels and the council's desire that parking spaces are effectively turned over, enabling other shoppers to park close to their destination."
He said that, prior to switching to the computerised system, council staff manually wrote out the notices and then took those forms with the payment down to the courthouse.
"What we're now doing is electronically sending the payments to the court as well as the forms.
"The advantage for the ministry is that they have an electronic record. With access to a records system like this, they can, in fact, stop someone who hasn't paid from leaving the country," Mr Harkness said.
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