Paperless government? Only sometimes.

All levels of government have long promoted a move toward paperless processes -- transitioning information to the Web, offering e-government collaborative tools, and marketing their own initiatives -- which theoretically reduce the number of trees sacrificed. The Office of Management and Budget, for example, made a point to publicize fiscal 2009 as the first time the federal budget was delivered to Congress completely digitally. Given the document was about 170 pages, this was no small feat.

And the progress made at the state and local level also receives kudos. Just this week the Center for Digital Government released results from its Digital Counties Survey. Six Washington area jurisdictions made it onto a list of "top digital" counties. As reported by The Washington Post, Fairfax County, Va., earned the accolade as a result of an innovative e-government program that offers 24-hour access through the Internet, kiosks in county buildings, voice-response systems on touch-tone phones and its cable TV channel. A do-it-yourself model also allows citizens to pay taxes, search for government facilities, access court information, and register for parks and recreation activities -- all from home. That might even put the federal government’s e-government efforts to shame. Loudoun County and Prince William County in Virginia also earned honors from the survey, as did Maryland’s Montgomery, Prince George's, and Frederick counties.