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A routine payment for Raleigh residents is about to get more expensive.
Starting Sept. 1, if you pay your City of Raleigh utility bill with a credit or debit card or a digital wallet app such as PayPal or Venmo, you’ll be charged an extra 3% processing fee.
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This is to cover the costs credit card companies charge for processing payments, Raleigh spokesperson Julia Milstead told The News & Observer in an email. The city has been absorbing these fees, but will now start passing them along to residents.
The change was part of the approved city budget and was discussed in the spring, Milstead said.
Utility payments aren’t the only expenses subject to processing fees. Raleigh’s planning and development department started charging them July 1, Milstead said.
It’s yet another increase in the cost of living for Raleigh residents.
With the city’s new budget, which went into effect July 1, households are expected to pay $122 more this year in property taxes and utilities.
And that’s not even counting the tax increases approved by Wake County.
If you want to avoid paying the additional 3%, you can pay your utility bill with a checking or savings account, cash, check or eCheck.
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You can also set up automatic payments to avoid late fees and service disruptions.
Local governments and state agencies already have processing fees for card payments. For example, the DMV charges up to 2% for all card payments.
State law allows “a unit of local government, public hospital, or public authority” to pass any fees or charges imposed by a card company or bank for accepting electronic payments onto card users (us).
The rules are slightly different for private businesses such as stores and restaurants. Many of these businesses add surcharges to payments made with credit cards. But consumers can avoid those surcharges if they pay with a debit card, or with cash.
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