Mount Prospect providing new way to pay water, sewer bills

Mount Prospect trustees Tuesday agreed to spend $38,500 for a kiosk that will allow residents to pay water and sewer bills at village hall at any time.

Under an agreement with CityBase Inc., the village also will purchase an online portal that will enable residents to set up recurring payments of water and sewer bills with credit or debit cards.

The online payment portal will replace the village's current E-suite system. Finance Director Amit Thakkar said the current system does not allow customers to schedule payments ahead of time.

The portal also will serve the local business community by allowing the online payment of food and beverage, hotel/motel, amusement and municipal motor fuel taxes.

Thakkar said the kiosk will be available next year in a secure area near the elevators in the municipal parking garage. There will be no convenience fee charged for using the kiosk, officials said.

However, there will be other costs for the village, in addition to the $38,500 purchase price. They include a first-year maintenance cost of $1,500, followed by an annual maintenance cost of $3,000.

The village also will pay $1.05 per transaction during the first year of use and $1.10 per transaction after that, as well as other processing fees.

Thakkar said 77% of the village's total transactions today are by check, 22% via credit or debit cards and about 1% in cash.

CityBase's other customers include such cities as Chicago, San Francisco and Indianapolis, he added.