10.b1 Staff Report - On-line Payments
Staff Report
Date of Meeting: October 17, 2023
For: Mayor and City Council
From: Colleen Firkus, Treasurer
Subject: On-line Payments
In 2020 the City of Scandia initiated an On-line Payment system with Payment Service Network (PSN).
The system is integrated with the city’s Utility Billing System (UBS) so that account balances are
refreshed when we upload a file and we can also receive/download payment information to save time
on entering the payments into UBS. Initial Setup fee was $200. Monthly fees were $4.95 per month for
2 years, then increased to $39.95 per month in 202 2. There is also an annual $89 PCI Security
Compliance Fee.
Earlier this year, PSN has been struggling with a bank collapse causing a disruption in service and
customer service has taken a nose dive. There are frequent system interruptions for which we get
notices. I am currently working on getting one of our utility accounts “reactivated” even though it was
never inactive on our part, and I’m still waiting on a call-back from PSN.
Banyon Data Systems (BDS), our supplier for Utility Billing, Fund Accounting and Payroll systems, has
made us aware of another option for electronic payments called Nuvei, which acquired Paya. They are
fully integrated with BDS and offer all the options available through PSN. What impressed me with the
demonstration I viewed was their Admin Portal which was very user friendly and provided features not
available on the PSN platform such as customer contact and assisting customers with their accounts.
They also offer multi-lingual options.
Switching to Nuvei will also save the city $449 per year and provide a lower fee to our users.
Provider PCI
Compliance
Fee
Monthly
Portal Fee
Payment Fee
ACH
Payment Fee
Check
PSN $89.00/yr $39.95 3.00% $1.10
Nuvei $9.95/mo $ 0 2.75% $1.10
Recommendation:
I recommend the City approve a contract with Nuvei to provide on-line payment platform.