September 9, 2022 |
The Saratoga town clerk wants to establish a new automated payment system for residents to pay their bills.
During Tuesday’s council meeting, Saratoga Town Clerk Marie Christen lobbied the council to approve a new automated billing system called Invoice Cloud. The system will allow residents to pay their utility bills over the phone and have the computer automatically update their account.
Saratoga, like many towns, uses a computer program called Caselle to keep track of customer’s utility usage and account balances. Right now, the town is using a payment processing program called IntelliPay to handle credit card payments. Christen says that payments made this way have to be manually entered into the customer’s Caselle account by a member of the clerk’s office.
With Invoice Cloud, that process would happen automatically without any human interference. Once a payment has been made, Invoice Cloud would communicate directly with Caselle to update a customer’s account. Payments made this way would instantly appear on the person’s ledger.
Town treasurer, Georgia Gayle, said at the council meeting that Invoice Cloud would save Assistant Clerk/Treasurer Brenda Mistelske time.
Pictured above: File photo of Saratoga Town Hall/Police Department. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
Invoice Cloud does have added costs associated with using it. Aside from the standard credit card fees that are passed onto the customer, there is a $250 monthly expense. Christen says that the added cost would be canceled out by saving time.
During the council meeting, Christen mentioned that Elizabeth, Colorado had successfully integrated Invoice Cloud into their system. The Town Clerk of Elizabeth, Michelle Oeser, says that the system pays for itself.
Councilman Jon Nelson was skeptical about any the system saving money. Information provided by Invoice Cloud notes that more than half of the town residents would need to sign up for automatic billing program to cover monthly cost.
Mayoral candidate, Chuck Davis, expressed concern over rural or elderly townspeople being left out by the changes. Christen assured him they could still pay the old-fashioned way.
Mayor Creed James asked for a vote. Nelson said that he would need to see more data on the cost savings over the current system. Councilman Ron Hutchins agreed to wait until that information could be produced.
Councilmembers tabled the decision until they can see more information about any potential cost-savings the automated billing might produce.
