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Motion by Councilmember Backous, seconded by Chairperson Elvig, to recommend that the City Council authorize the contract for agent of record services for 2012 -2013 and an increase of $200 to the fee of Bearence Management Group for 2012 and $200, for contracted amounts of $6,000 and $6,200 respectively. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Chairperson Elvig, Councilmembers Backous and Wise. Voting No: None. Case #2: Credit Card Analysis Finance Officer Lund reviewed the staff report and introduced Denelle McAlpine, Senior Accountant. Councilmember Wise inquired how a comparison was made since there is no City data to use for comparing. Ms. Lund responded the comparison is based on the dollar amount of transactions. She added Opus is the billing company and they work with only three companies. Choices of companies to provide services are limited by the software integration between Opus and the credit card companies. Senior Accountant McAlpine depicted the difference between the companies contacted for rates. Ms. Lund noted customers, residents and staff have inquired whether the City of Ramsey will begin accepting credit cards for payments on utility bills, building permits, abatements, and various fees. Ms. McAlpine explained there is a fee associated with offering acceptance of credit cards. The fee could be absorbed by the City, thus reducing overall revenue collections, or passed onto the consumer via higher permit and/or utility fees. Chairperson Elvig inquired whether there is a cap on the fees assessed by any of the credit card companies. Ms. McAlpine answered there is not a cap with any company. The benefit of using RevTrak is the 1.99% processing fee. She further explained that Authorize.net is not a web store; they are a credit card processor. The City would need to set up its web page as a web store, and she is waiting for an answer on what that cost would be from the web designer. Discussion took place on whether to charge a processing fee to the users to help with some of the costs. Ms. McAlpine stated she has had conversations with the City of Big Lake. They use RevTrak and charge a $2 fee for credit card transactions online. This fee cannot be charged for in- person transactions. She noted all other cities she spoke with absorb the fees. Finance Committee / February 22, 2011 Page 2 of 4