Madison received the top award for its population size from the Digital Cities Survey for its innovation in online technology for city residents.

This is the second consecutive year the Digital Cities Survey has given Madison this award because of its ability to offer online alternatives to government practices.

George Twigg, spokesperson for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, said Madison has enacted several initiatives in the past few years to improve the quality of life for residents and make government more "user-friendly."

"Madison is a national leader in using technology to create a more open, more efficient, more user-friendly city government," Cieslewicz said in a release. "As our community continues to grow at a rapid pace, innovative use of technology is one way we can continue to provide high-quality services at a price that taxpayers can afford."

These services, Twigg said, include the innovative "Report A Problem" website, which allows residents to quickly and immediately report any problems they are having with city services, including trash collection, snowplowing and pothole filling. He said since its development in 2005, the service has processed more than 5,000 comments from concerned citizens.

He also said Madison's online City Hall website allows Madisonians to track the government's actions and decisions throughout the year. It even offers a place for residents to pay bills — including anything from parking tickets to bus passes — through an online service. According to a release, more than $44 million in bills have been processed using the website.

"We've found that increasingly more and more people are going to the web to find information that's important to them," Twigg said. "We've been working to make city government more digital friendly."

Besides these developments, Cieslewicz said in a release that officials are constantly working to increase resources in the city. The mayor added he is working to enact an "enterprise-permitting" system, which would increase interaction and communication with potential property developers.

However, the mayor also said in the release that just because the city received the Digital Cities Survey award again and is continuing to make developments, officials "aren't going to rest on our laurels."

Dick Grasmick, the leader of Madison's Information Services Department, said many cities have technological advancements, but not to the scale or magnitude Madison does. Wi-Fi across the city and wireless services in police and fire rescue vehicles, he said, contribute to the city's exceptional digital services.

"I just think we're doing a lot of things," Grasmick said. "Other cities are doing comparable things, but not across all departments — we're very pleased to be recognized as one of the leaders in the country."

And Brian Rust, spokesperson for Division of Information Technology at the University of Wisconsin, said technological developments aimed at helping citizens are not only taking place in downtown Madison. The university also provides services to students and staff like data access, training and technical support.

The technological advancements of UW, he added, are crucial to the development of the city, and compare to other "peer institutions" throughout the country.

"In talking about Madison as a city, you can't do that without talking about the university," Rust said. "It does provide a lot of resources."