City of Oak Creek

Common Council Report

Meeting Date: 10/03/06

Item No.:        

Recommendation:  That the Common Council authorize the City Treasurer to accept payments for tax bills and other fees for city services from customers using credit card payments via the internet and to authorize the City Treasurer to execute an agreement with Official Payments Corp., a third party credit card service.  The agreement will not be executed until reviewed and approved by the City Attorney. 

Background:  The option of paying property tax bills by credit card is currently not available to the residents of Oak Creek.  The Treasurer’s Office receives many requests each year to add this service, however due to the cost of processing credit card payments it has not been feasible.  These services are provided by many other municipalities in Wisconsin by passing on the cost of the credit card transaction to the card holder.  This can be done by using a third party company to process the transaction for the customer via the telephone or the Internet.      

After extensive research, meetings and investigation of pricing/fees it was determined that Official Payments Corp. was the most cost effective vendor for the City.    All the other credit company processors had extensive setup, monthly and annual maintenance fees or transaction fees plus convenience fees that would be assessed to the payer.  

If approved, all Internet credit card payments for the City will be handled through Official Payments Corp.  Official Payments also provides the option to make credit card payments via the telephone.  Many Wisconsin municipalities utilize their service for several types of payments (list available upon request).  Several of these municipalities were contacted for a reference; all comments were positive.  The Treasurer’s Office would like to provide these services for payment of 2006 property taxes.  This service would also be used for the Parks & Recreation Internet registration software.          

Fiscal Impact:  There will be no cost to the City of Oak Creek.  A convenience fee will be assessed as a separate charge to the credit card payer by Official Payments Corp.

Prepared by: Barbara A Guckenberger City Treasurer	Respectfully submitted, Patrick DeGrave City Administrator
Caesar Geiger Information Technology Manager	Fiscal Review by: Beverly A. Buretta, CMC City Clerk