Finance committee approves up-to-10-year extension of Wells Fargo master banking agreement

The City of Santa Fe Finance Committee on April 28 approved Amendment No. 1 to the Master Banking Services Agreement with Wells Fargo Bank, authorizing an extension that could keep Wells Fargo as the city’s fiscal agent and merchant services provider through Sept. 26, 2034.

Director Oster told the committee the Wells Fargo relationship covers a broad set of services — depository and payment accounts, ACH and vendor payments, merchant services for credit-card receipts, investment services tied to the bank relationship, and the city’s purchase-card program. Oster said Wells Fargo supplies merchant-service credits that offset other bank fees, which “in effect” means the city does not pay net fees for those combined services under the current contract.

The amendment continues an existing relationship that staff said dates to about a decade. Because Santa Fe used a procurement conducted by the City of Farmington as the basis for the earlier contract, the initial contract term matched Farmington’s schedule and expired on April 30. The amendment before the committee is structured as a one-year extension that automatically renews annually for up to eight additional years (the procurement class permits up to a 10-year total term). Either party may provide notice during a 30-day window before a renewal to terminate the arrangement.

Oster told members the contract’s long term preserves the existing fee structure and gives the city time to pursue a change if desired. He said the city could issue its own RFP for fiscal-agent banking services and that a full procurement and operational transition to a different fiscal agent would likely take 18 months to two years, based on his prior experience with a state-level transition.

Councilor Lindell, who pulled the item from consent for discussion, said she objected to the prospect of a 10-year commitment and contrasted Wells Fargo’s local philanthropic activity with that of a local bank. “I don’t love that it’s for 10 years,” Lindell said, urging greater local support from Wells Fargo.

Oster provided a list of local organizations Wells Fargo has supported in recent years, including United Way of North Central New Mexico (and its Tax Help New Mexico program), Growing Up New Mexico (home-childcare accelerator), the New Mexico Foundation, the Anderson School of Entrepreneurial Leadership at UNM, Homewise, Mass Design, the Southwest Association for Indian Arts, and the Santa Fe Business Incubator. He noted nonprofit groups can apply for Wells Fargo funding at wells fargo.com/impact and encouraged eligible organizations to seek grants.

The committee approved the amendment on a roll-call vote (yes: Councilor Cassatt; Councilor Lindell; Councilor Faulkner; Councilor Lee Garcia; Chair Merritt). The motion passed.

The amendment preserves current credits and gives the city annual opportunities to discontinue the relationship. Staff said they would continue to press the bank on local philanthropic engagement and that the city retained the option to pursue a new fiscal-agent procurement in the future.