NOTICE - PLEASE READ
A convenience fee will be charged for using your credit card.
You are probably aware that any merchant who offers credit cards as a payment option must pay a "discount fee" to the credit card companies (i.e. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express), which is a percentage of each transaction. Whether the merchant is Safeway, Fred Meyer, or Amazon.com - the bank charges that fee to the merchant. Those merchants simply build that fee into their cost of doing business.
If the Finance Department were to pay that fee it would mean an increase in the departments budget - which directly translates into an increase in the tax rate - which is an increase in taxes for you. The Borough in a sense would be asking taxpayers who pay their tax bill by cash or a check to subsidize those taxpayers who pay their taxes by credit card. Therefore, it was decided to use an outside vendor so that people who wanted the convenience of using a credit card would have that option, but they would pay for the convenience rather than passing the fee along to all taxpayers.
Just so you will know, the Kenai Peninsula Borough receives none of the convenience fee. It is used by the vendor to pay the discount fee plus their cost of providing the service. The vendor has paid for all costs of developing and maintaining our credit card programs. This method of using an outside vendor and charging a convenience fee is widely used throughout the U.S. because it involves no cost to local government. The company who provides our service also provides the credit card program to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Many taxpayers prefer this option because the convenience fee helps them accumulate frequent flyer miles on their credit card account and/or defer their payment for up to 30 days.
There is an additional payment option you may want to consider for the future that does not cost you anything, and that is our E-Check where it is withdrawn from your checking account after the information provided is verified from your financial institution. You may already be paying other things this way (i.e. insurance, utilities, etc.). Taxpayers love this option and it makes our job easier, too.