New online bill pay system

Danielle Ryan

(10/20) During the August 1 Town Council meeting, Commissioners discussed a potential update to the on-line bill payment system. The topic was re-addressed and voted upon during the October Town Council meeting.

Upon request by many residents in town to refine the online bill pay, Cole Tabler, the Town Accountant, researched several avenues in order to find a more user-friendly and accommodating system. Residents have been able to pay their water and sewer bills online by credit card or by check or cash at the Town Office. The utilization of a new system would be to allow for easier access and management by residents hopefully avoiding too much additional cost to the town.

Tabler reached out to different providers weighing the advantages and disadvantages in order to find a vendor that would meet the desired criteria. The Town was looking for a vendor that would offer the most ease of transition for residents as well as a system that was straightforward and compatible with the current online processes and software in place.

After speaking with the local bank, Invoice Cloud (the vendor that specializes with the Town), and the current billing system for water and sewer in place, Tabler found that the current utility software vendor, had the most to offer. The vendor currently in use offers the addition of a web portal at no additional cost to the Town, and would allow residents to pay utilities such as water, sewer and trash online by credit card.

One of the greatest features of this system is that residents’ accounts will be automatically updated and residents will be able to view their payment history. This is doubly beneficial for the Town as they will no longer need to enter all transactions manually, because the system will be updated automatically every time a resident pays their bill.

The fee structure for this system would be $3.95 or 2% of the customer’s balance. Residents will also be able to use bank check elimination, which will be a $.25 cost per transaction to the Town. These fees were the lowest of all the different vendors researched.

No disadvantages were seen with this system, and there would be no additional cost to the town to upgrade the system. Any cost would only be seen in the future, if additional modules would be added to the system. For now, the town just be making the upgrade.

This system upgrade was voted upon and accepted by the Council. Residents can plan to see the transition in the system over the next few weeks.