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Oxnard extends Paymentus contract and approves Tyler merchant-services deal to complete ERP transition
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Summary
The Finance and Governance Committee approved a three-year extension of Paymentus merchant services through Dec. 31, 2027, and separately authorized a five-year agreement with Tyler Technologies to support credit-card processing during Oxnard's phased ERP rollout; both motions passed 3-0.
The Finance and Governance Committee on April 22 authorized two related merchant-services actions to support Oxnard's multi-year enterprise resource planning (ERP) rollout: (1) a third amendment to the Paymentus agreement extending the contract through Dec. 31, 2027 and increasing the not-to-exceed amount by $702,000 to $1,783,720, and (2) a five-year agreement with Tyler Technologies to provide credit-card merchant services for the ERP.
Chief Financial Officer Javier Chargo de Lazaro told the committee the contracts are related because the city is implementing the ERP in phases. The city has implemented finance and payroll and is completing business-licensing and permitting modules before deploying the utility-billing module. Because utility billing still runs on the legacy system, "we need to extend the agreement with Paymentus" so customers can continue making card payments while the city completes testing and integration with Tyler, he said. Chargo de Lazaro also flagged a typographical error in the staff report's budget table and corrected a $128,500 figure.
Staff said Paymentus provided reduced per-transaction fees in negotiations but expected a longer-term agreement as part of that pricing; the amendment includes contract provisions to address early termination if the ERP deployment completes earlier than expected. Chargo de Lazaro said the December 2027 end date is an estimate tied to the utility-billing deployment and that the city may terminate early if implementation finishes sooner.
Committee members asked whether in-person or non-card payment options remain available; staff confirmed service centers and a lockbox will continue to accept checks and cash without the Paymentus convenience fee. Councilmember Starr asked whether any per-transaction or termination costs would apply if the ERP rollout completed earlier; staff said negotiated terms account for those possibilities and that staff will assess timing as implementation proceeds.
The committee voted unanimously, 3-0, to recommend city council approve both the third amendment with Paymentus and the five-year agreement with Tyler Technologies. Committee member Rodriguez, Committee member Starr and Chair McArthur recorded aye votes on each motion.
Why it matters: Extending Paymentus preserves customers' ability to pay electronically during a phased ERP migration and reduces service disruption risk. Approving Tyler as the long-term merchant-services provider enables end-to-end testing of ERP payment flows once the utility-billing module is deployed.
What's next: Staff will continue ERP implementation and monitor whether the Paymentus extension can be terminated early if the migration completes before Dec. 31, 2027. The contract actions will be forwarded to full City Council for approval.
