Custom software for small towns and counties

How work gets done in a small town hall

In a town of a few thousand people, the clerk may also handle permits, the building inspector may also be the code officer, and the public works crew takes requests from whoever answers the phone. The work is the same as in a big city, with far fewer people and an older set of tools.

• Permit applications arrive on paper or as emailed PDFs, plans are passed around by hand, and applicants call to ask where things stand.
• Fees are calculated from a fee schedule by hand, and checks are logged in one book while permits are logged in another.
• Inspections are booked by phone, results are written on a card, and the record is typed in later.
• Code enforcement cases need dated notices, deadlines, re-inspections, photos and sometimes liens or hearings, all following local ordinance and due process.
• Business licenses, rental registrations, dog licenses and special event permits each live in their own spreadsheet.
• Potholes, streetlights and missed trash pickups come in by phone, email and social media, with no single list.
• Public records requests have to be logged and answered within the time your state allows.

Municipalities software: permits, code enforcement and more

Builds follow your ordinances, fee schedules and forms. Common pieces include:

• Permit software with an online portal: applications, document and plan uploads, fee calculation, online payment, review routing and permit issuance.
• An inspection app for scheduling, checklists by permit type, photos, pass or fail results and automatic notices to the applicant.
• Code enforcement software: complaints, cases, notice letters from templates, deadlines, re-inspections, fines and case history by property.
• Licensing and registrations for businesses, rentals, contractors and events, with renewal reminders.
• A resident request tool, often called 311, where people report issues with a photo and location and get updates when they are fixed.
• Work orders for public works, linked to resident requests and assets like hydrants, signs and streetlights.
• A public records request log with due dates and responses.
• Property lookups that pull permits, cases and licenses into one view by parcel or address.
• Integrations with your financial system, payment processor and county GIS or parcel data.

Government software platforms vs. custom

Larger vendors serve local government well. Tyler Technologies offers a wide range of municipal software, from finance to permitting. Accela is used by many cities and counties for permitting and licensing. OpenGov covers budgeting and permitting. CivicPlus is known for municipal websites and related tools. For a town ready to standardize on one vendor, these are worth a look.

Custom software fits smaller places and specific gaps: a town that needs a permit portal and inspection app but not a full enterprise suite, a county with a code enforcement process the packaged tools handle awkwardly, or a staff that wants one simple system for the many small licenses and requests that never justified their own software. Custom tools can also connect to the financial system you already use. Public-facing pages are built to meet accessibility standards so residents using screen readers or phones can use them, and you own your data and can export it at any time.

How a municipal software project works

1. Gather the paperworkWe collect your ordinances, fee schedules, application forms, notice letters and checklists.
2. Walk a few casesWe follow a permit, an inspection and a code case with the clerk, inspector and code officer.
3. Design the screensStaff and a few residents click through the portal and the field app before anything is built.
4. Build in roundsWorking pieces arrive in short rounds you review, often starting with permits or code enforcement.
5. Move your recordsOpen permits, active cases and license records come over from spreadsheets or your current system, linked by address.
6. Launch and announceStaff are trained, residents are told about the new portal, and we adjust as you learn what people use.

Careful AI for local government

AI can help small staffs by answering common resident questions, like permit requirements, trash schedules or office hours, from your own published information, sorting incoming requests to the right department, and drafting code notices or meeting summaries for staff to edit. Approvals, enforcement decisions and anything with legal effect are made by people.