County OKs electronic payments
Published 12:06 am Friday, September 27, 2013
Taxes, licenses can be charged, consumer will pay fees
One will soon be able to pay property taxes with a credit card, but, expect to pay a fee for the service, commissioners said Thursday.
The practice to allow credit and debit card use at the probate, revenue, mapping and appraisal, engineer and sheriff’s offices was unanimously approved during a continuation of the Sept. 11 meeting.
Currently, the probate office is only office set up to accept credit cards. The fee associated with card use is absorbed by the office; however, that will change once the new system is in place, Chairman Bill Godwin said.
Commissioners said the practice would come into effect “as soon as feasibly possible,” and as early as Oct. 1; however, infrastructure issues must be addressed first, Godwin said.
In other business, the commission approved:
• the annual Southeast Alabama Regional Council on Aging in-home contract, which allows one fulltime employee and one part-time employee to assist homebound residents with daily activities. The county match is $38,000, with the federal government contributing $13,000 in funding.
• signed a resolution to apply for a grant to fund the county’s Drug Task Force. County Administrator Brenda Petty said the grant could be reduced to as much as $50,000 for the next fiscal year.