Crypto bros and gals, rejoice!
In a not-too-distant future, New Haveners will be able to pay their taxes via Family Dollar kiosks or instantly converted Bitcoin.
That’s the upshot of a vote the Board of Alders took Monday night to have the city shift to a unified online payment system for taxes, tickets, and fees, aiming to save money for both city government and city residents. That system allows for payments via cryptocurrency – even if the city would never actually receive any Bitcoin or Ethereum as part of any given transaction.
The city currently uses a variety of programs — from Clover to Municity to QDS, depending on the charge in question — to process online payments from residents.
With Monday’s vote, the Board of Alders unanimously signed off on switching all electronic city-resident transactions to a single system called Paymentus.
“Paymentus has experience with local government agencies and private businesses,” said Finance Committee Chair and Westville Alder Adam Marchand on Monday. He added later that “it’ll produce some savings for the city,” and for residents, by way of lower transaction fees.
Residents will still be able to pay by mail or in person at City Hall. If they do choose an online payment method, they’ll have a broader array of transaction methods available than before.
Paymentus accepts not only credit and debit cards, but also Venmo, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, e‑checks, and bank transfers.
The platform can also process payments in cryptocurrency by way of PayPal (which currently accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and PayPal USD).
PayPal immediately converts the cryptocurrency payments into U.S. dollars — meaning that the city will not actually be receiving any cryptocurrency from the transactions.
Finally, Paymentus partners with retailers including Walmart, CVS, and Family Dollar to accept payments at physical kiosks.
Paymentus will charge payment fees ranging from 70 cents to 2.45 percent of the transaction, depending on the payment method. (For parking, ticket, and tax payments, those are typically paid for by residents; otherwise, they are typically covered by the city.) In most cases, the Paymentus fees are lower than the current charges for online city-resident transactions.
According to a letter from City Controller Kristy Sampieri, those lower fees will save the city an estimated $105,000 to $208,000 annually, while saving residents a collective $70,000 to $75,000.
Meanwhile, the program will cost $30,000 to implement, according to a fiscal impact statement provided to alders.
Laura Glesby Photo
Alder Adam Marchand: Let's save both the city and residents money.