Newton residents may soon have another option to pay their water bills after the Board of Aldermen voted to accept credit and debit card payments for city services.
In a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, the board heard from Taylor Gibson of ION Business Concepts, which provides the credit and debit card processing service. Gibson explained his company would provide the city with card-reading machines, process the payment and send the money back to the city.
While there is no direct cost for the city to use the service, Gipson explained there is a processing fee of 2.5 percent that is passed on to the customers. When residents swipe their cards, the machine will calculate the fee and ask if the person still wants to proceed, he said. The minimum fee is $1.25 for charges under $100 and 2.5 percent after that.
“The customer bears the cost,” he said. “It wouldn’t cost the city a dime.
Under Mississippi law, Gipson said, cities cannot be charged for credit and debit card processing services like ION Business Concepts. That is why the cost is passed on to the customers, but it is also why ION does not require a contract, he said.
“There’s no contract because there’s no way I can bind you to it,” he said.
Currently, Gipson said, ION Business Solutions accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. The system can be adapted to a wide range of city services from water bills, municipal court fines and garbage fees.
“We can set it up for whatever you take payments for,” he said.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Alderman Eric McCalphia said. “Sounds good to me.”
With no contract, the board agreed to incorporate the credit and debit card service into the city’s departments. After several months, Mayor Murray Weems said, they can reevaluate and see if the service is something the city should keep long term.
In the future, Gipson said, ION could also provide an online payment option to the city to make payments even easier for residents. The fees for online payments, he said, are “quite a bit higher,” but it still sees frequent use in other cities.
