Creditnet News Story
Credit card payments will cost residents of Nevada city
Thursday, July 22, 2010
By Thomas Astery
Citizens of a Nevada city may soon notice a new charge on the bills they pay if they use their credit card.
According to a report in the Reno Gazette-Journal, the Fernley, Nevada, city council voted unanimously to approve a measure that would tack a $1.14 charge onto any bill or fee from the city that is paid off with a credit card. These charges will be applied to water and sewer bills, fees for building and planning in the city, and fines and fees from the city's municipal court.
The Gazette-Journal report said that Fernley's finance director found the city paid processing fees totaling more than $38,000 to "third parties." The new charge on bills is designed to offset those processing fees, and the $1.14 price was the average cost per transaction.
However, such transaction fees should be coming down soon. President Barack Obama signed a bill into law on July 21 that will place strong limits on these so-called "swipe fees" that are charged per transaction and cost businesses - including cities - large amounts of money every year.
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