Payment contract gets green light

FORT SMITH — City directors approved a contract with the Tulsa, Okla.-based U.S. Payments for bill payment services.

In a memo, Lance McAvoy, city utility director, wrote using payment kiosks are to continue the department’s effort to provide multiple customer service options and safe ways to pay utility bills. U.S. Payments has 10 kiosks in Fort Smith providing bill payment options for Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Arkansas Oklahoma Gas, Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative, and Cox Communications, with more than 9,500 bill payments being the monthly average on them.

More than 50% of the department’s consumer base prefer “the convenience and immediacy of traditional and in-person bill payments,” according to McAvoy.

“These customers might have limited access to technology, credit cards, and debit cards, making online bill payments impossible,” McAvoy wrote. “Payment kiosks allow customers to make bill payments at times that are convenient for them. Self-service payment kiosks are a useful tool in offering a broad range of options to customers, no matter how they prefer to pay.”

The U.S. Payments contract includes kiosk payment options using cash, check, or debit/credit card, McAvoy wrote. All convenience fees would be charged to the customer using the kiosk. The screen text, voice prompts and receipts for the kiosks are available in English and Spanish, as is U.S. Payments’ customer service group.