The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – Dayton residents who pay city water and sewer bills will soon have access to their accounts online and the ability to pay monthly utility bills with credit cards.

Dayton City Council approved a contract with InvoiceCloud on Monday, which will offer not only the ability for city staff to accept credit card payments – something the city has never been able to do despite dozens of inquiries monthly – but will also give customers the ability to view bills and usage online and set up automatic payments.

The use of credit cards will incur a fee that customers will have to cover, according to City Clerk Trina Cole. The city might look into absorbing these fee in the future, but for now city leaders can’t predict how much money that would mean. The city will already pay $75 per month for the service.

Council member Arthur Hall opposed the contract with InvoiceCloud, stating that the credit card fee being charged to customers is higher than the industry standard. Cole stated that this was true, though the difference is minimal.

However this company was the only one with a program that could work in conjunction with software already in place at the city for managing utilities, Cole said. If the city opted for a different company with a slightly lower credit card fee, customers would not be able to check their accounts online.