SYCAMORE – The Sycamore City Council unanimously voted to shelve a proposal which would have implemented a $2.50 convenience fee for all utility payments not made electronically by city residents.
The proposed fee would have offset impending cost increases expected to maintain paper billing, and instead encourage residents to use digital billing for utilities, officials said.
Two options were presented to the council this week: One would have charged $2.50 a month for customers who choose to continue to receive paper billing, and the second would have been a $2.50 fee per transaction for all non-direct debit transactions.
Both measures were not supported by the council during a scheduled vote Monday. However, Sycamore elected officials said they would consider returning to the conversation in the future.
“I think, to be honest with you, I think we’re going the wrong way,” said Ward 2 Alderman Chuck Stowe. “We should not be charging people to send a bill and pay a bill.”
If passed, either of the proposed ordinances would have gone into effect on Jan. 1, 2023. However, members of the city council worried it wouldn’t be enough time to educate the public about the policy.
City Finance Director Brien Martin said the fee was created to be an incentive for residents to opt into online payment options. Martin said that’s because the city’s need for cost containment will be stronger once Sycamore switches to BS&A, a government software system other DeKalb municipalities have recently begun to adopt.
“That cost is going to go up,” said Martin, “because when we go to BS&A those will be single sheet, eight and a half by eleven, sheets of paper that then have to be folded and stuffed into envelopes which we currently don’t buy at a higher postage rate.”
“So we’re looking at an increase from 17,000 or 18,000 dollars a year to about 27 or 28, depending on volume.”
Martin said of the nearly 7,000 residential and commercial customers in the city only 535 are currently signed-up for e-billing with no paper trail. Around 2,500 property owners do e-bills but still receive a physical notice saying the city automatically deducted their billed amount. Multiple members of city council said Monday they don’t currently use e-billing.
Martin said he hopes once the city’s new website, in conjunction with BS&A, goes live on Jan. 1 customers will be able to easily access their bills and pay them through a portal on the website.
According to documents, the city’s Assistant Finance Director, Kristian Dominquez wrote a letter explaining why the finance department had opted to give this option to the board.
“Convenience fees are common with public utilities and financial institutions and are intended to motivate customers to the lowest cost bill delivery and payment options,” wrote Dominquez. “These fees would encourage customers to choose electronic bill receipt (e-billing) and or Direct Debit.”
Despite the impending 63% increase in cost of paper billing, the Sycamore City Council voiced concerns with the idea of billing someone to pay a bill.
“I have senior citizens who are like already calling me and asking me about this because they don’t trust computers or they like to do things manually themselves,” said Ward 3 Aldermwoman Nancy Copple.
“What we might want, I could see giving a discount to people who go the other way,” said Stowe. “I really don’t want to see adding on a fee for somebody who’s been doing the same thing, same way, same time the whole time they’ve lived here in Sycamore. I think it’s definitely sending the wrong message.”
Stowe said he wanted to wait on the matter because he doesn’t think enough Sycamore residents have heard about the billing free proposal.
“It’s one of the reasons that we chose not to put it [the billing fee proposal] in place immediately, that there was an opportunity over, between now and Jan.1, to do that sort of education through our Facebook page – which is unfortunately where more people go to see information about the city than the city’s website,” said Martin.
