Sedgwick County is considering charging transaction fees for using credit cards when paying for some services.
"What that means is you use your credit card to pay a county tax and then we charge you whatever the fee would be from the credit card so we don't have to pay that directly," explains County Manager Bill Buchanan.
Every year the county pays nearly $1 million in fees to credit card companies, half of that coming from motor vehicle registration. Passing those fees onto people paying with credit cards would save Sedgwick County a lot of money, but could create some problems.
"If we up-charge citizens, the liklihood is that Visa will withdraw their credit card from our system, people would not be able to use Visa credit cards. That has happened in Johnson County and that would be a concern," adds Buchanan.
A representative for Visa couldn't comment on the Johnson County situation but told Eyewitness News that Visa does not allow retailers to charge consumers for the use of its cards.
The county commission will discuss the idea at Tuesday's meeting. If passed, the fees would be added to anyone paying vehicle registration, county taxes, ambulance fees or county health fees with a credit card.
