Antioch OKs credit-card acceptance rules with 2.95% surcharge and $0.50 fee after hearing

The Antioch Village Board voted to adopt an ordinance authorizing credit-card acceptance rules and a convenience fee for card transactions carried out by the village. The vendor and staff described the program proposed for village transactions: a 2.95% per-transaction charge plus an additional $0.50 fee that, according to staff, will be retained by the payment vendor to cover failed transactions and chargebacks.

During the public hearing and board discussion trustees and residents expressed concern about fairness, particularly the burden of a fixed $0.50 charge on very small transactions (for example, a purchase of a concession item). One trustee said a waiver or hardship process should be available for residents who must use a credit card due to circumstances such as a bank account hold or short-term hardship. Staff and the vendor said the software/provider currently imposes the fee and that a village policy could provide a post-payment credit or utility-bill credit for qualifying hardship cases; staff committed to further exploration of whether the vendor or the village can absorb the 50‑cent fee.

The board also discussed promoting auto-debit and alternative payment rails (Zelle, Venmo or similar) as lower-cost options for residents; staff noted auto-debit typically costs the village about $0.27 per transaction and would avoid the surcharge.

What’s next: Trustees voted to approve the ordinance provisions shown to the board and asked staff to draft a hardship-waiver/credit policy and to continue negotiating implementation details with the payment vendor.