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Charlotte County reviews credit‑card vendor fragmentation and fee exposure
Summary
Fiscal staff outlined countywide credit‑card and electronic payment vendors, showing utilities, BCS and community services account for most transaction fees; commissioners asked for further research into vendor consolidation and the feasibility of standardizing contracts across departments.
Charlotte County fiscal staff presented a countywide inventory of credit‑card and electronic payment processors during the Nov. 18 board workshop and highlighted opportunities—and tradeoffs—to consolidate merchant services.
Rick Arthur of Fiscal Services told commissioners that five departments (utilities, BCS, community services, EMS and the landfill) generate over 95% of the transactions and associated fees. Utilities currently passes fees to customers; most other departments absorb fees in their operational budgets. Arthur said the county’s total credit‑card fees were "just under $1,500,000" across the last three years, driven primarily by high transaction volumes in a handful of departments.
Commissioner Constance questioned the length of the utilities contract (staff identified it as five years) and said the county should avoid long‑term contracts when services change quickly. Commissioners explored whether the county could standardize merchant services across departments to improve efficiency and reduce PCI‑compliance risk, balanced against concerns about vendor dependence and systems integration.
Arthur outlined the benefits of a consolidated merchant services vendor—reduced PCI burden, operational efficiency and a unified customer experience—but cautioned that integration across multiple departmental software systems could be complex and that a policy decision is required about whether to continue absorbing fees in department budgets or pass them to customers, as utilities does now.
Outcome and next steps: The board asked staff to perform additional research, include constitutional officers in that review (e.g., tax collector), benchmark other counties, and return with recommendations on potential consolidation, contract terms and cost allocation policies.
Sources: Presentation by Rick Arthur, Fiscal Services; commissioner questions and direction recorded during the Nov. 18 workshop.
