What is easy to see is how those price tags in the millions can frighten off smaller cities and counties. Yet new twists in the marketplace mean prices can be much lower than expected. ICMA's project began with the League of Minnesota Cities, which issued an RFP for a Web site development product for its own cities. They choose functions and features they'd like, such as whether to have a parks and recreation sign-up service, or a complaint service for potholes and broken streetlights, or a way to conduct online polls with citizens. It was so simple, even a mayor could do it.
Prices rise on a sliding scale by population, and each optional service adds to the cost.
Since the launch in June, more than a hundred cities have committed to getting a Web site from the company. The National League of Cities entered into a collaboration with IBM Corp. in December, and in March started pilot-testing Web development. NLC is working with 12 state municipal leagues. Thirty cities have been testing the Web sites. The rollout was expected to begin last month.