Title
City's New On-Line Parking Ticket Payment Program (B)
The City staff has written software to permit citizens to pay their parking tickets on-line. Staff will show a powerpoint presentation of the steps needed to use this new system.
Explanation
Staff began writing a web-based parking ticket payment program in early January 2006. The application required integration to the City's T2 Parking Ticket System, and to PayPal, the credit card processing firm. Additional integration to the City's cashier system will be built into this system in the next few months, fully automating the posting of payments to the City's finance system.
Staff reviewed a variety of credit card payment systems prior to selecting PayPal, with many of them charging $3.00 or more to the ticket holder to use their card processing services, irrespective of the cost of the ticket. In the early stages of this program, staff did not want to add a convenience fee on top of the ticket cost for using the on-line payment system and felt that PayPal's costs were the most affordable. PayPal charges are based on a percentage (2.9%) of the ticket cost, plus an additional thirty (30) cents.
This system was made available to the public in early October.
Fiscal Note
Each ticket transacted through PayPal carries a charge that is currently being absorbed by the City. The charge is 2.9% of the ticket amount, plus an additional thirty (30) cents. Thus, an $8.00 ticket costs the City approximately fifty (50) cents to process.
Recommendation
The Commission receive a report from staff.