The city finance director estimated

the credit card discount fee to be 3 percent. That means for each fine

paid by credit card, the city gives 3 percent to the merchant service

company processing the credit card transaction. So for each $100 fine,

the merchant service company receives $3 and the city receives the remaining

$97. That's a $3 loss in city revenues.

The finance director also said

the fine administration fee would be increased from $2 to $5. Councilman

Rapson pointed out that it is illegal to charge a fee to recover the credit

card discount fee. The fine administrative fee can be used to purchase

the software and equipment needed to process the credit card payments,

and for staff administration to process the payments. It cannot be used

to recover any portion of the 3 percent discount fee.

Peachtree City's coffers must

be awash with money for the council to give away $3 per $100. I look forward

to seeing long-delayed projects placed back in the budget, and Mayor Brown

can stop complaining about budget shortfalls.

John Dufresne

Peachtree City