Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Payments Migration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Zephyrhills to consolidate utility payments to Tyler Technologies; council will pass credit‑card fees to customers
Summary
Council authorized migration of billing and payment services to Tyler Technologies and approved a policy to recover credit‑card processing fees from customers; staff said ~4,000 autopay accounts will need re‑enrollment and estimated roughly $15,000 per month in current card fees.
The Zephyrhills City Council on April 27 authorized staff to consolidate utility billing and online payments into the city’s Tyler Technologies platform (moving away from Paymentus and WaterSmart) and approved passing credit‑card processing convenience fees to customers.
Finance Director Ted Beeson said integration with Tyler will consolidate multiple subsystems, improve visibility of fee and late‑charge components, and provide a single portal for customers to view consumption and irrigation vs. household use. Staff noted about 11,800 payments are processed in a typical month, with roughly 6,400 paid by credit or debit card and about 1,800 by check; Paymentus currently maintains about 4,000 auto‑draft customers who would need to re‑enroll.
Beeson said the city currently absorbs processing costs that amount to about $15,000 per month (about $170,000 annually); council members discussed the equity tradeoffs of passing costs to customers and how to encourage ACH/check autopay instead. Council authorized staff to execute four related agreements with Tyler and directed that credit‑card processing fees be recovered from card users (a proposed fee structure described in the packet was up to 3% with a minimum convenience charge; staff will finalize exact language and implementation timing).
Council members asked staff to frame the customer communication plan, particularly how to help low‑income customers and autopay users transition. Staff proposed a December 1 effective date for the migration if contracts and implementation proceed on schedule.
