Thomasville adds fee to some utility payments

Sep 22, 2008 (High Point Enterprise - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- WU | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Sep. 22--THOMASVILLE -- Those who currently use a credit or debit card to pay their water and sewer bill in Thomasville soon will be required to pay an additional charge.

In an effort to save more than $20,000, the Thomasville City Council voted earlier this year to sign on with third-party administrator Western Union Speedpay.

For a flat fee of $2.95 each month, Speedpay will handle all telephone calls from customers who want to pay their bill via credit or debit card.

Thomasville Finance Director Tony Jarrett said Western Union offered the lowest convenience fee of five companies contacted.

All customers who use a credit or debit card will be required to pay the fee starting Oct. 13. The projected start date was May 1, but the city ran into technical problems.

Jarrett said 20 percent of Thomasville's 10,000 water and sewer customers will be affected by the change. Customers will receive a letter in the mail about the change during the city's next two billing cycles.

For the first time ever, Thomasville customers will be able to pay their bill using Speedpay on the Internet. A link to pay the bill with Speedpay is on the city's Web site.

"This is a very good option with a very reliable third-party vendor for people who like the convenience of paying from home by Internet or phone," Jarrett said.

Jarrett said the new payment system is needed because the city was absorbing a cost of about $26,000 per year for people paying with their debit or credit cards.

"We also had telephone lines that were extremely busy with payment calls," he said. "It was causing a little bit of a backlog of our customer service calls that weren't payment related. In the next 60 days, we hope this will free up those lines. That's a savings we haven't figured out."

Thomasville City Councilman Raleigh York Jr. is encouraging people to pay water and sewer bills by setting up automatic monthly drafts from their bank accounts.

York, a self-professed debit card user, said he has changed to a monthly draft to avoid the extra costs from Speedpay.

Cash and checks still will be accepted in person and by mail.

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