BENTON COUNTY — The Lowell City Council voted Tuesday to approve the most significant $85 expense in its recent history. That amount represented the city's first bill for collecting creditcard payments at its city court.
About $4,500 in court fines has been charged to credit and debit cards since the option became available in August.
Rogers District Court also scheduled Aug. 1 as the start of credit-card payment. Judge Brad Karren said a total of credit-cardpayments so far wasn't easily accessible because the option only began last week.
What you pay for
Lowell, at the direction of Mayor Perry Long, contracted with a third party to run credit cards, the same setup many small businesses employ. The machines are installed, and the court staff has long been trained. Long expected to pay 3 percent of the credit-cardpayment in fees to the bank, but so far is averaging less than 2 percent. Lowell has yet to charge a convenience fee - an option forcourts with a change of state law on Aug. 1 - and paid the first usage fees from the court automation fund, intended for the replacement and operation of court equipment.
Judge Karren had asked the Rogers City Council for a contract with a third-party agent, similar to Lowell's setup. Karren's plan would have included a lot more up-front costs, but the court was also beginning to accept cash and check payments for the first time. The Police Department had been accepting those.
Instead, the council voted on a agreement with ARcourtpay.org, which was touted as a no-cost, no-liability credit-card option for the city. There has beensome cost, but none from ARcourtpay - the city had to contract a software firm to make the court's data compatible with the notfor-profit company's.
That vote came at the beginning of the summer, and now at the season's end, the court has an online credit-card option and a place for a payment kiosk.
"We've got it online now," Karren said. "I don't have a computer in my lobby. If you've got a ticket, you can get online and take care of it."
The kiosk, when it arrives, will allow payments without the court staff ever touching the cards.
"I keep calling them, and they keep telling me it's on the way, it's on the way," he said Thursday. "Theye-mailed me a picture of it, and it looks real good."
On Friday, Karren said ARcourtpay, after learning a reporter was asking questions about it, confirmed the kiosk would arrive this week.
ARcourtpay could not be reached for comment. The company's Web site did not list a phone number, and the messaging option did not appear to be operational.
It's too early for Karren to assess the online option, partly because he hasn't yet promoted the service. Karren said he wants to unveil all the options at once.
"With about 60 days, I'd be able to know how this is going to work," Karren said.
Lowell isn't ready to assess its credit-card option either, but it does have some pseudo projections. For example, when the council paid that $85 credit-card bill, it set aside $440 for the remainder of the year, an average of about $118 for each of the remaining three months.
"It's of no cost to the taxpayers, and we're giving people a more convenient way to pay," Long said.
News, Pages 1, 8 on 09/21/2009