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Onancock council affirms plan to stop absorbing credit-card fees, approves $11,000 FY27 amendment
Summary
Council reaffirmed staff direction to transition to a model that stops the town absorbing credit-card processing fees, approved a framework motion and an approximately $11,000 FY27 budget amendment for implementation, and asked staff to finalize pricing, vendor options and a customer communications plan.
Town manager (Wes) told council that moving away from the current model where the town absorbed credit-card fees will require a change in the vendor/service model, associated testing and a higher monthly platform fee but is still expected to lower the town's net annual processing costs. Staff estimated savings could be substantial — "$40,000 a year is a lot of money," the manager said — and asked council to reaffirm the transition and authorize necessary paperwork and an FY27 budget amendment of approximately $11,000 for InvoiceCloud-related implementation costs.
Council discussed trade-offs including higher staff time for processing checks, customer resistance to visible fees, and vendor selection. A member moved to reaffirm the transition, authorize the town manager to complete paperwork subject to final pricing and timing, approve the budget amendment and direct staff to communicate the change; the motion was amended to use generic "online payment-processor" language rather than a vendor name and passed by voice vote. Council asked staff to return next month with a high-level communications plan.
