Ask SouthsideCentral! (3/10/16)

You’ve got questions. SouthsideCentral has the answers. That’s the simple basis behind a new feature category here on SouthsideCentral.

“Ask SouthsideCentral” is where we’ll find out the answers to questions that our readers have. In our first edition, we’ll find out why the city of Danville has never accepted Visa or Mastercard for payments.

And away we go…

QUESTION: “The city of Danville accepts Discover for payments, but why won’t they take Mastercard or Visa?”

I’m glad you asked that question!

We went to the man in Danville city government who knows about the money… Michael Adkins, the Finance Director.

Here’s his answer to that question.

Visa & MasterCard (who set the standards for most other credit cards) do not allow convenience fees to be charged to customers for utility payments, unless the customer is paying in a manner that is deemed as a “convenience” – i.e. at home online or at a kiosk in a lobby, etc. The City has never been in a position to absorb the transaction fees associated with credit card processing. Discover would allow us to charge the convenience fee with a face-to-face transaction and they provided us with two machines (one at the drive through window and one in the lobby). Over time, the Discover card machines broke and Discover refused to replace them because the transaction volume was so low. I suppose it was costing them more than it was worth. So, customers choosing to use a credit card can only do so online.

We are working to provide customers a seamless online experience where they will be able to pull up their utility account online, examine their bill, and pay by credit card instead of having to leave the utility account site. It is expected that the convenience fee will be absorbed by Utilities. Because the General Fund cannot currently absorb credit card processing fees, those payments will still incur a convenience fee for credit card payments.

I hope once the absorbed fee for utilities is in place, along with the seamless online site, we will be able to provide a kiosk in the lobby at Central Collections, enabling customers to walk up and use their credit card.

So there you go. The city would still accept Discover if they had working machines, but Discover wouldn’t replace those machines. Thanks to Michael Adkins for the detailed answer!

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