Posted 4 months, 2 days ago in 
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So the city now will charge utility customers a dollar to use their credit cards to pay their bill? Talk about creating waste!
It goes something like this when using of credit card: Phone City Hall, give person credit card number, person enters payment on computer, bill paid.
Now our fiscal managers have created another scenario: Write a check, put it in a stamped envelope for the postman to collect it and drive it to the post office where others will spend time and effort handling it and delivering it to City Hall where it must be handled again, entered into the system and then the check must be sent to the bank for further handling by others.
Can you see the waste of fuel, paper, postage, manpower, energy, time and materials and the addition of fossil fuel emissions to our atmosphere — all because our city’s managers want to save a few cents on credit card service fees?
Talk about blind, self-centered fiscal and environmental irresponsibility. And these people are in charge of spending our tax money? I’m thinking Alice’s Mad Hatter and the demented Queen are more rational than they.
T. C. STREFF
Grand Junction
3 Responses to “City charges fee to use credit cards”
Posted July 21st, 2008 at 1:21 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
Mr. Steff - You need keep in mind that the City is simply passing along the fee the predatory credit card companies (controlled by major banks) are charging them. Why should we taxpayers who pay our bills by check, money order, or (heaven forbid)cash, be forced to subsidize your use of a credit card? The answer is, we shouldn’t!
Posted July 21st, 2008 at 11:23 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
I personally use my bank’s online banking feature to pay my city water and trash bills. As the City isn’t set up on my bank’s electronic payment system, when I pay my bills electronically my bank sends a paper check to the city, without charging me postage. I’ve been doing this for over two years with no problems.
Based on my experience, several of Mr. Streff’s assertions ring hollow. There are other ways to get a check to the city without the cost of a stamp. Electronic bill pay works really well. Mr. Streff could take his un-stamped envelope and drop it at any of several drop boxes at local grocery stores. The city’s website under Customer Service also details many other options.
The City’s bank is Alpine Bank, so the check that my bank sends them will be processed by city customer service and walked across the street from City Hall. The checks from the grocery drop boxes are picked up by city personnel and taken to City Hall. Sounds like a fairly green arrangement to me.
If Mr. Streff wants to accuse the city of “blind, self-centered fiscal and environmental irresponsibility”, there are other, more inviting and practical targets to choose from. On this issue his ire is uninformed and misdirected.
Posted July 21st, 2008 at 11:34 pm Login to Send PM Report this comment
While it ain’t enough to get bothered about either way, I seriously doubt that the city can process checks as inexpensively as the service charge associated with credit cards — esp if you include bad checks, input errors, and so on that accompany checks — that is why many businesses in town no longer accept checks — see vast majority of chain restaurants. My business would prefer credit cards over anyhting other than cash simply because of isf checks, closed accts, etc.
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