Marshall County will be investigating alternative methods of payment for building permits.
During Monday morning’s meeting, Plan Director Ralph Booker and Building Commissioner Chuck DeWitt explained the reasons behind offering methods of payment in addition to cash, check, and credit card.
DeWitt says they’ve discussed the matter with the Treasurer’s department.
“They’re looking into their side of it,” says DeWitt. “We want to make sure everything would work. It could be expanded into other departments if it works and is viable.”
For credit card payments in office, residents obtaining a building permit are charged a 3% convenience charge by the service Pay.gov. To perform a permit purchase online, they are charged a convenience fee of 3.95%. Marshall County is disallowed under statute from absorbing that fee.
To potentially lessen the blow to local taxpayers, the planning office in Marshall County has requested possibly implementing e-checks. To process the transaction a flat $1.50 fee would be applied to building permits transacted through e-checks.
Booker says they’d like to pursue it.
“We are going to have some jurisdictions now that are coming online that charge fairly substantial permit fees,” says Booker. “Which if you take that by 3.95%, it could be something like $8 or $10 to pay for a permit.”
Meetings have already taken place between the Plan office and the Treasurer’s office.
If it’s successful, e-checks could be implemented to pay for services in other departments. Some communities around the state are already providing the service. Marshall County intends to investigate its use before proposing its use, locally.
