Update:
City council has approved a 5 per cent convenience fee be implemented for any payments made with a credit card for city of Williams Lake services.
Original:
Williams Lake residents wanting to use a credit card to pay fees and services at city hall may have to pay a five per cent convenience fee.
City council debated the proposed fee during a regular council meeting on May 11 and will be asked to vote on a motion approving the Williams Lake Fee Amendment Bylaw at the regular meeting Tuesday, May 25.
During the May 11 meeting Coun. Ivan Bonnell asked how much of a demand there is to pay using a credit card.
“It’s troubling enough that you have a 10 per cent tax imposed upon you if you are late on your payment, let alone having a five per cent fee imposed if you pay it at the time it’s due with a credit card. I don’t know if it’s worth it putting people through that process, but I understand it’s a matter of choice,” Bonnell said.
Chief financial officer Vitali Kozubenko replied that sometimes people are asking if they can.
“We tried it in the past as an option when we didn’t charge a fee because people have been basically using this method of payment to supplement miles or collect points with this big payment, but the city would be stuck with this big bill,” he said. “At this point we are saying ‘no’ because of this fee.”
Giving an example he said on a $5,000 payment, the city will pay $250 in fees.
For debit card payments the city pays a small fee of about 0.12 per cent, Kozubenko confirmed.
Coun. Sheila Boehm said she was OK with the fee.
The city of Quesnel confirmed it does not accept credit cards.
Residents in Kamloops can pay with a credit card as of Friday, May 21, in-person or online, with a non-refundable convenience fee of 1.75 per cent being implemented.
The city of Prince George accepts credit cards for smaller transactions such as licenses and parking tickets only and there is no transaction fee.
However, bigger items such as utilities and taxes cannot be paid for using a credit card in Prince George.
Coun. Scott Nelson said by putting the Williams Lake Fee Amendment Bylaw in place would give the public more tools at this time and if it is put in place it could be revisited in a year to see if the amount should be lowered.
Read more: Small businesses feeling the pinch of credit-card fees as e-commerce ramps up
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