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City explains switch to Next Bill Pay for utility payments; staff says change reduces human error but customers pay processing fees
Summary
City staff described switching to Next Bill Pay to reduce manual ACH/batch errors and speed posting to utility accounts; the platform posts directly to the city's accounts, charges customers a small fee (about $2 for bills under $200), and the city does not retain the fee.
City staff explained the city's recent implementation of the Next Bill Pay platform for utility payments and framed the change as a way to reduce staff time and human error in batch ACH processing. Georgina said Next Bill Pay posts payments directly and provides customers with real-time account-balance information; the city does not retain processing fees charged by the platform.
Georgina described operational reasons for the switch: with more than 300 customers using automatic payment services, the manual spreadsheet and batch process had increased the risk of transposition errors and wrong-account drafts. "So customers now have real time account balance information, that they can see what their next bill is before they even get their bill in the mail," Georgina said, and she noted the platform automatically deposits payments into the city's bank account. The clerk and council clarified that Next Bill Pay charges customers directly (about $2 for bills under $200) and that the city will continue to accept cash, check, night drop and mail payments; Doxo remains an option but is more expensive for customers.
