RESOLUTION NO. ____-22
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PLEASANT HILL
AMENDING THE CREDIT CARD AND ELECTRONIC PAYMENT PROCESSING
CHARGES AND DIRECTING SAID CHARGES BE ADDED TO THE MASTER FEE
SCHEDULE
WHEREAS, the City of Pleasant Hill (the “City”) charges fees for licenses, permits, and various services provided by the City; and
WHEREAS, California Government Code section 6159, subdivision (b), allows a city or other public agency to authorize acceptance of a credit card, debit card, or electronic transfer for payment for services rendered by a city, county, city and county, or other public agency or for payment of a fee, charge, or tax due a city, county, city and county, or other public agency; and
WHEREAS, California Government Code section 6159, subdivision (h)(1), authorizes a city and other public agencies to impose a fee for the use of a credit or debit card or electronic funds transfer, not to exceed the costs incurred by the agency or agent in providing for payment by credit or debit card or electronic funds transfer; and WHEREAS, the web-based applications the City uses to accept fees for licenses, permits, and other various services typically utilize third-party payment processors, which charge certain credit card and electronic payment processing fees to City customers; and WHEREAS, as a result of statewide and county directives to stay at home and practice social distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of credit card payments for City services has significantly increased; and WHEREAS, the City finds that these transactional costs have been paid out of the City’s General Fund and, therefore, will continue to be borne by the general public, if the transactional costs are not imposed on the persons using these payment methods; and WHEREAS, in the interests of fairness to the general public, the City desires to recover the transactional costs by imposing such charges on the persons using this payment method; and
WHEREAS, the City Council adopted Resolution 64-21 to approve accepting credit card and electronic processing fees (collectively, the “Fees”) as set fee amounts; and WHEREAS, the City Council now wishes to amend the credit card and electronic payment processing fees (collectively, the “Fees”) as set forth in Exhibit 1 hereto; and WHEREAS, the Fees are established to offset all, or portions of, the costs of collecting on-line payments; and
WHEREAS, the fees adopted as part of this Resolution will be incorporated into the City’s existing Master Schedule of Fees adopted on June 27, 2022 via Resolution No. 51-22.
NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Pleasant Hill hereby finds, determines, and resolves as follows:
Section 1. The above recitals are true and correct and are incorporated into this resolution by reference.
Section 2. The City Council hereby approves and adopts the proposed credit card and electronic payment processing fees included herewith as Exhibit 1. The revised Fees will take effect on September 13, 2022 and supersede any prior credit card and electronic payment processing fees or charges imposed by resolution or otherwise by the City Council, to the extent such prior fees or charges conflict herewith.
Section 3. The City Council has considered the full record before it, which may include but is not limited to such things as the staff report, testimony by staff and the public, and other materials and evidence submitted or provided to it. Based upon such consideration, the City Council finds and determines that:
(a) The Fees established by this Resolution:
(1) are imposed for a specific government service provided directly to the payor, or for reasonable regulatory costs of the City for issuing licenses and permits, performing investigations, inspections, and administrative enforcements of the City’s Municipal Code or other rules or ordinances;
(2) are no more than necessary to cover the reasonable costs of the governmental activity for which the Fee is imposed; and (3) the manner in which those costs are allocated to a payor bear a fair or reasonable relationship to the payor’s burdens on, or benefits received from, the governmental activity for which the Fee is imposed.
(b) The Fees are not taxes within the meaning of California Constitution article XIII C, section 1(e).
Section 4. If any section, subsection, clause or phrase in this resolution or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is for any reason held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this resolution or the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this resolution and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact that one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, or phrases or the application thereof to any person or circumstance be held invalid.
Section 5. The City Manager and Finance Manager are hereby authorized to take all actions necessary to implement and collect the Fees and shall ensure that the Fees set forth in Exhibit 1 shall be listed as Citywide Fees in the Master Fee Schedule, as adopted on June 27, 2022 via Resolution 51-22.
ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of Pleasant Hill at a regular meeting held on the 12th day of September, 2022 by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
___________________________________
MICHAEL G. HARRIS, OD, Mayor
ATTEST:
DANIELLE K. HABR, City Clerk
Exhibit 1
City of Pleasant Hill
Finance Department
Credit Card and Electronic Payment Transaction Processing Activity Description Adopted Fee Charge Basis
Credit Card/Debit Card Transaction
Processing Fee
Credit Card
payments *
Online Credit Card
payments*
Currently 3.0% of amount paid by
credit card plus
Currently 3.0% of amount paid by
credit card with a minimum of $2
*The rates and minimum transaction amounts can be amended based on the convenience fee charged by the merchant providers.