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Mundelein village hall to take credit cards in 2015

Mundelein residents and merchants soon will be able to pay water bills, fines and other fees with credit cards or debit cards at village hall.

The service should start in January. All major cards will be accepted.

Trustees unanimously approved the financial policy Monday night during their meeting at village hall, 300 Plaza Circle.

Trustee Ray Semple called the additional payment format a convenience for residents and staff members.

"(It's better) than people lining up here at the village clerk's office or mailing their payments in," Semple told the Daily Herald before the discussion.

People have been able to use credit and debit cards to pay village-related bills and fees online for about two years on the town's website, mundelein.org.

Officials expect to receive about 8,000 credit card, debit card or e-check payments online this year, Finance Director Doug Haywood said in a memo.

People who use credit or debit cards in person at village hall would be charged a service fee, according to Haywood's memo. Such fees aren't added to online payments.

The amount of the fee hasn't been determined, Village Administrator John Lobaito said.

Government agencies are allowed to charge service fees for credit card transactions under state law. They can range from $1 to $40 or be a percentage of the purchase total, under the law.

Credit-card surcharges cannot exceed the processing fee a government agency pays for the transaction, the law states.

Trustee Terri Voss asked why in-person credit card transactions will result in additional fees while online purchases don't.

Trustee Ed Sullivan, who leads the finance committee, suggested a fee will be levied because employees have to handle live transactions. But that didn't sit well with Voss.

"They have to handle it if they pay in cash, too," she said.

Officials have begun meeting with companies that provide credit card transactions to choose a vendor.

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