If you've every tried to pay your city water bill or your city tax bill online, you have found that the city of Philadelphia likes to charge a percentage or fee -- 2.49 percent on a property tax bill can make a sane person run screaming from their computer.
"Thjere's not a reason out there for charging people a price to pay their bills online," Terry Phillis, the city's chief information officer, said yesterday. So, in an bold attempt to join the modern world, Phillis said "Our intention is to end them or reduce them significantly." (Phillis inherited the city's E-Pay system which began in 2004 as a pilot program.)
The city currently takes in $8 million a month, mostly for water bills, in a system that isn't even marketed to the customers, Phillis said. He thinks the city can generate 10 times that amount, saving paperwork and man-hours. First, Phillis, said, he must negotiate better rates with credit card companies, which charge a percentage, often around 2 percent, to process a transaction. That's already happening he said. Heard in the Hall will keep an eye on his progress.
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