CCP 04-19-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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. . . ~ ~HILLS MEMORANDUM DATE: Apri112,2004 Agenda Item 2.F TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council FROM: Murtuza Siddiqui, Finance Director/Treasurer "'N)~ SUBJECT: Credit Card Aceeptanee BACKGROUND: Currently, the City of Arden Hills does not accept credit card payments for its services, Services that can be paid by eredit card include permit fees, licenses, utility payments, fines, sports recreation registration, etc. Over the past year, the City has received a number of inquiries from the residents and contraetors encouraging us to aecept credit card payments. DISCUSSION: Credit cards are accepted by most eities in the metro area, but the type of services they accept payments for vary from city to eity. There are two methods of accepting credit card payments. The first method is the Over the Counter method where a card is either swiped through a crcdit card machine or the information is manually inputted when it is provided over the telephone or through some other means. The second method of accepting eredit card is on-line, hnplemerttation of the credit card acceptance is a two step or phase projeet. Phase I (Over the Counter Method) The first method as outlined above is fairly straight forward to implement. There is a one time set up fee of approximately $800. However, there is an on-going per transaction fee associated with the usage. Each time a credit card payment is accepted, a service fee is charged by the eredit card company. This charge will vary anywhere between 1.8 and 2.8 percent ofthe eharged amount depending upon the type of entry. Lower charges are applied if a card is physically swiped through the machine as opposed to manually inputting the eard number. The credit card