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City treasurer recommends ending city-subsidized credit/debit autopay option
Summary
Treasurer Sarah Wilson told commissioners rising processing fees from replacement vendors mean the city would face a roughly 10x increase in annual processing costs for card-based autopay; staff recommended keeping bank-account autopay (with monthly 75¢ credit) and ending the city-subsidized credit/debit autopay option.
City Treasurer Sarah Wilson told the commission the city's existing credit/debit card autopay product is being discontinued by the processor and that replacement options carry substantially higher annual processing costs.
"We received notice at the beginning of the year that our current auto pay provider for credit and debit cards is discontinuing their service," Wilson explained, then laid out the rough estimates: a BS&A platform option would cost on the order of $26,000 annually and a bank-hosted option through Fifth Third had a preliminary estimate of about $29,500 annually compared with the roughly $2,200 the city currently pays to absorb fees. Wilson said absorbing $26,000'$30,000 annually would likely have to be accounted for in water and sewer costs or other service fees.
Staff recommended discontinuing the credit/debit card autopay option while keeping the bank-account auto-pay enrollment that receives a 75¢ monthly credit. Wilson said customers could still make card payments via the new online platform, but they would pay the processing fee directly.
Commissioners expressed support for the recommendation and asked staff to prepare a direct-mail notification to affected customers so residents have time to switch enrollment or sign up for bank-account autopay. The commission reached consensus to accept staff's recommendation at the work session; no ordinance or fee change was adopted at the meeting.
