Commissioners approve certified payments terminal for recorder to accept credit cards

Carbon County commissioners voted to allow the recorder's office to implement a certified‑payments credit‑card terminal to accept public payments, a move staff said will be offered at no cost to the county and will pass processing fees to users.

Speaker 6 (role: not specified), speaking for the recorder's office, told the board that state recording fees recently increased and that the office has tested a vendor called Certified Payments that "is the same payment system that Leah at the treasurer's office uses." He said "the first page has gone up from $8 to $20" and that each subsequent page rose from $8 to $10, meaning more customers will use cards.

Staff said Certified Payments will batch and reconcile transactions so the county does not handle processing fees directly. "We do not deal with that amount anywhere in our office," Speaker 8 said, describing automatic two‑line statements that separate the fee from the transaction amount. Commissioners authorized staff to implement a terminal under the county's existing contract with the vendor.

The motion to proceed with a technology agreement and add the terminal passed by voice vote.

What happens next: Recorder staff will sign the necessary vendor agreement and install a terminal; the county will publicize the new payment option and the vendor's processing fee schedule.