CFO Viscay Responds to Fiore’s Question About Credit Card Service Charges to Taxpayers

Ward 5 Councillor Al Fiore requested at Monday’s Council meeting that Mayor Brian Arrigo appear before the Council “to explain why the taxpayers, as opposed to the City, are being charged 3 percent or more to pay taxes with a credit card.”

Fiore said he had received calls from constituents “who are getting hit with a 3 percent fee” when they pay taxes by credit card.

The response to Fiore’s query was instantaneous as Chief Financial Officer Richard Viscay took the podium and gave a thorough explanation to the Council about the credit card service charge process.

“We had suspended the 3 percent pass-through, charge card fee during the pandemic because of the difficulties of doing business at City Hall,” explained Viscay, adding that the net charge was $300,000 from March-December, 2020.

“That increased to over $400,000 in calendar year 2021, so it’s quite costly for [the City] to pick those fees up.”

Viscay outlined two options for the 3 percent service charge. “We can either pass on that service charge, which is a charge from the credit card company for the use of their credit card, or we [the City] could absorb it. I think it would be great if we could absorb those fees, but you’d see this becoming a seven-figure ($1 million or more) budget line item. We made the tough decision to suspend that and we’re certainly getting calls on it as well. But it’s not a fee we’re charging, we don’t get that money. It’s just simply a fee that gets passed through as an interchange fee of the credit card.”

Fiore thanked Viscay for appearing at the meeting and explaining the credit card fee process to the Council.