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Council approves switch to Cassell Community Connect portal to cut payment processing costs
Summary
The council voted to move utility and other city payments from Express Bill Pay to the Cassell Community Connect portal. Staff said the change would reduce processing fees (from 3.03% to 2.83% on sample month) and eliminate interest float by routing receipts directly to the city's bank account.
The North Ogden City Council voted to switch the city's payment portal from Express Bill Pay to Cassell Community Connect, a move staff says will consolidate integrations and reduce processing fees.
City Treasurer Casey Hunsaker presented the analysis, noting Cassell integrates with the city's accounting software and allows payments to post live to citizen accounts instead of batch pulls. Using October sample data, Hunsaker said the combined Express Bill Pay/payment-tech rate had been 3.03% (about $8,100 in fees on $267,000 processed). "With that same amount that we processed in October, our total fee would would have been $7,500, which is a a $544 a month savings," Hunsaker told the council.
Hunsaker and Cassell representative Mark Aleman explained the fee structure (quoted at 2.83% = 2.25% plus $0.30 per transaction) and said the agreement is month-to-month during the soft-launch period so the city can exit if the portal does not meet expectations. Council members asked about rate volatility and implementation steps for resident autopay setups; Aleman said rates are market-driven but Cassell has not raised rates for clients in his experience, and staff described a plan to pilot the portal with council and staff and then roll out to residents with outreach and a possible grace period for missed autopays.
Council moved to approve the transition and carried the motion by roll-call vote (unanimous among members present). Staff will implement a soft launch with staff and council and return to the council if problems arise.
