Atchison to shift online payments to InvoiceCloud; customers to pay 3.15% processing fee

The Atchison City Commission authorized the city to contract with InvoiceCloud as its electronic payment processor and directed staff to sign the vendor statement of work.

City Manager Mark Westhoff said the city previously absorbed effective card fees that, when calculated on each transaction, approached 11 percent. He said commissioners instructed staff to seek lower rates and to shift transaction fees to customers rather than use tax dollars.

"We were able to negotiate a lower rate with our current processor, but the lowest that they would offer is 6.25 percent," Westhoff said. After discussing several proposals, he said, "InvoiceCloud ... their rate was 3.15 percent, which was considerably lower than any other. We were also ... impressed with InvoiceCloud's portal, their website." Westhoff told commissioners InvoiceCloud would bill the end user the transaction fee and charge the city a $50 monthly service fee; he added the fee "will never pass through the city's budget."

Commissioners moved and seconded the motion to authorize staff to hire InvoiceCloud and to authorize the city manager to sign the statement of work. The motion passed by voice vote. Staff said InvoiceCloud will enable additional payment options (Google Pay, Apple Pay) and will help with resident outreach during the transition. The city will continue to offer internal, fee-free payment methods and will notify residents of options and timelines for the rollout.