County to begin accepting financial transactions online
LANCASTER – It will soon be a lot easier for people to make payments to the county, ranging from paying child support and court fines to getting a dog out of the shelter.
“It was something we’ve been working on for months,” said Fairfield County Clerk of Courts Branden Meyer. “It seemed like every day we were getting calls from people who wanted to pay court costs and fines over the telephone. We’d have to tell them we can’t do it”
The county did not have a system set up to accept credit card payments or provide a way to pay for things online.
Meyer brought it up during the last annual county retreat, and a working group, which included county Treasurer James Bahnsen, was established to look into the issue.
“We sent out (requests for proposals) and received eight responses,” Bahnsen said. “Five had costs to the county with their proposals, so those were dropped.”
Of the three remaining, the working group recommended the commissioners accept Lexis Nexis/Payment Solutions and Point & Pay to provide financial transaction devices and services to all the county agencies.
Bahnsen said other counties had used those companies and recommended them.
The new program includes credit/debit card methods of payment that can be taken over the phone, via the Internet and on mobile devices.
“This is going to be great for us. This is something we had been looking into since I came into the office last August,” said Fairfield County Dog Warden Todd McCullough. “It’s a problem we’ve had to deal with. People are generally upset when they come to us looking for their pet.”
McCullough said when they tell them they don’t accept credit cards for payment and that they need to go to an ATM to get cash before the can give them their pet, it just makes them more angry.
“With this, we will be allowed to use their credit cards and help them on the spot,” McCullough said. “It makes it easier for the people getting their dogs and for us.”
Each department will be able to use either company, with the main difference being the card readers.
While there will be no cost to the county for the installation, service fees will be charged to the customers using the service and will range $2 to $5.75 or from 2.39 percent to 2.5 percent, depending on the mode, service and whether the payment is for utilities or something else.
Plans are to use it in a limited number of offices to start, such as the Clerk of Courts office. Once they are sure all the bugs are worked out, it will be rolled out to the other offices.
cburnett@lancastereaglegazette.com
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Twitter: @CarlBurnettJr