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BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. Cash or charge? Thats the choice Briarcliff Manor residents will be able to make when paying village fees in the future.
The Briarcliff Manor Board of Trustees agreed Wednesday night to allow residents to pay for many fees and services in the village using credit cards. The board voted 4-0 in favor of the resolution. Trustee David Venditti was absent from the meeting.
The village began accepting credit cards for some services in 2011 that were operated through a third-party vendor. This resolution will allow credit card use throughout village departments.
People are more and more wanting to pay through a credit card, Village Manager Philip Zegarelli told the board Wednesday night. The problem is, at a restaurant you pay your tab on a credit card and the fee to the credit card vendor is included in it. In the case of a municipality, its different.
Zegarelli said the village would have to include an additional 2.5 percent charge in the fees and services for residents paying with credit cards.
Were going through this authorization because weve had people call us and say, I paid a $50 fine with a credit card and I got charged an additional $5 and no one told me that, Zegarelli said. This is to help smooth these things out and utilize the electronic age, but that the village staff are not responsible for any shortfalls.
With the resolution passed, residents will be able to pay taxes, penalties, interest, special assessments, water bills, Recreation Department fees and other fees using credit cards.
The board also unanimously agreed to spend about $29,000 to repair the paddle tennis courts and more than $68,000 to replace the liner in the Briarcliff Village Pool. Village officials said work on both projects would most likely be completed by the summer.
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