How Prince William County Handled Nearly 40,000 Resident Conversations With AI in Its First Year

Prince William County is a large county in Northern Virginia, part of the Washington, D.C. metro area, serving a population of just over half a million. Through its PWC311 program, the County fields resident questions across phone, text, and web about services such as tax administration, real estate assessments, and other routine County business.

The County engaged Citibot to bring an AI assistant into PWC311's existing service channels – without asking residents to learn a new system or download a new app.

Results & Impact

First-Year Outcomes

• Nearly 90,000 total resident interactions handled across PWC311's channels in the program's first year
• Nearly 40,000 conversations handled by Will, Citibot's AI assistant – close to half of all resident contact volume
• More than 95% of service requests completed, out of nearly 7,000 requests received across channels
• About 13 seconds average call answer time for residents reaching a live agent

The Challenge

Like many local governments, Prince William County faced rising resident expectations for fast, easy access to information – while routine questions about tax bills, real estate assessments, and other County services competed with more complex cases for staff time. Residents calling or messaging PWC311 needed a way to get quick, accurate answers without navigating phone trees or waiting on a callback, especially for the kind of high-volume, repetitive questions that don't require a specialist.

The Solution

Citibot deployed "Will," an AI assistant built into PWC311's existing phone, text, and web channels, giving residents 24/7 access to instant answers to their questions, particularly on tax administration and real estate. Rather than replacing PWC311's staff, Will was designed to absorb the routine, repetitive volume so County employees could focus on more complex resident needs.

"Residents should be able to get clear answers and reach the right County service without needing to understand how government is organized," said Drew Messick, Data and AI Engineer, Prince William County.

"The goal is not to replace the human side of public service," said Jordan Schinstock, Director of Product Management at Citibot. "It is to make services easier to access."