Council committee OKs smaller parcel fees for online property-tax payments
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Summary
The committee advanced a resolution to amend a payment-processing vendor fee schedule so most Detroit taxpayers pay less per-parcel for online property-tax transactions; bulk payers get a lower rate and cryptocurrency payments remain through PayPal with separate fees.
Detroit — The Budget, Finance and Audit Standing Committee voted without objection to advance a resolution amending the fee schedule for the city’s online payment platform, reducing per-parcel transaction fees for most property-tax payers.
The change was presented by Nikhil Patel, deputy chief financial officer and treasurer for the City of Detroit. Patel said the vendor, Paymentus, originally planned to charge $2.50 per ACH transaction but—because of how the software handles parcel-level refunds and ACH compliance—would have applied that $2.50 to each parcel in a multi-parcel payment. "So if you have 3 parcels on your transaction, they charge you $7.50. Obviously, that wasn't our intention," Patel said.
The revised fee structure that the administration and vendor agreed to charges 25 cents per parcel for typical taxpayers and 15 cents per parcel for large bulk payers making partial payments on hundreds or thousands of parcels, Patel said. "So, you won't, unless you have 10 or more parcels on your transaction and most people don't own 10 parcels of land for property tax, you're gonna pay less than what we originally planned on paying," he said.
The committee chair and members voiced support for the change, describing it as a consumer-friendly adjustment. Members also asked about cryptocurrency payments; Patel said those remain processed through a PayPal integration and any PayPal fees for crypto are unchanged. "Whatever PayPal is charging for that crypto fee, that's on the PayPal end. So no change there," he said.
The committee moved the item to the formal agenda with a recommendation to approve. The resolution itself changes the vendor fee schedule under contract 6006188-A11 and does not alter the contracted vendor or the platform launch timetable, which the administration targets for July 1.
Administration officials said the change requires council approval to amend the contract terms. The committee did not receive additional financial estimates projecting city revenue or taxpayer cost differences beyond the per-parcel rates presented.
