The Crenshaw County Commission, Revenue Commissioner and Probate Judge have announced the launch of a new website for the county, which will allow citizens to access information and pay taxes online.

The address for the new site is www.crenshawcountyalonline.com.

“This new web site will allow our citizens to search, view and pay tax bills, renew tags and purchase other services from the convenience of their home or office,” said Commission Chairman Ronnie Hudson. “The Commission was eager to assist in the conversion to online Internet services.”

The option to allow taxpayers to renew their car tag online is a major part of this new system, said Probate Judge Jim Perdue.

For example, such an option could have come in handy within the last week for some people.

The last day of May fell on a Monday, which was a holiday, and that meant that tags should have been renewed by Friday the 28th.

“Sometimes people forget, but they could still do it online on time,” Perdue said.

When a user registers for the system, they must submit an e-mail address, and that address is used to send the user reminders about when things like tags and taxes are due.

In addition to paying car tags, Revenue Commissioner Sherry McSwean said there are other options available.

“You can also pay taxes online through PayPal, which is a secured web site,” she said.

Users can also view property assessments, maps, and aerial photography of ownership.

“People can also change their address, which gets us the most current information,” McSwean said. “This system also helps out-of-state people that own property here, and we’ve already had several people use it online.”

One thing the site doesn’t include is mobile home registration renewals, but McSwean said that is a possibility for the future.

She also said that tax bill reminders will continue to be mailed out.

“The law doesn’t require us to mail bills in October, but we’ll continue to do it as a courtesy,” McSwean said.

“We’ve done things like having one-stop tags and better equipment, and now we’re moving online,” Perdue said. “This is just a continuation of that effort to make things better for the citizen.”