cover
TO: Mayor Richard Irvin
FROM: Lisa Zepeda, Revenue & Collections Manager
DATE: September 12, 2024
SUBJECT:
A Resolution Authorizing the Director of Purchasing to Sign a 3-year Service Agreement with CentralSquare Payments for Credit and Debit Card Payment Processing via Paya Connect.
PURPOSE:
CentralSquare Technologies, LLC (Naviline) has been the City's ERP system for over 20 years. The City desires to accept credit and debit cards for Naviline payments without interruption of service and in a manner consistent with best practices. CentralSquare now offers a fully integrated payment solution through Paya Connect which will provide for seamless credit card transactions. This solution is the sole source of a full integration with Naviline and will ensure PCI compliance, integrity of data and easier transaction reconciliation. Additional features and benefits are outlined in the attached CentralSquare Fact Sheet.
BACKGROUND:
Credit and debit card payments have been managed by CORE/Automated Merchant Systems (AMS), a third-party credit card processor since 2006 when the City first began accepting credit cards for goods and services. In 2019, CentralSquare sun-setted Naviline's Transaction Manager which required a new payment acceptance process to be provided by AMS. The resulting changes have proven to be less reliable and a "loose" integration compared to the previous integration.
Since 2019 City staff have had to mitigate a multitude of reconciliation issues that arise when CORE credit card terminals do not settle, when servers go down, or when transactions simply fail to appear as they should in Naviline. Despite efforts by all parties involved to fix these issues, problems have persisted without resolution. Due to these issues, customers attempting to make a credit card payment have experienced error messages, incomplete or missing payments, missing receipts, and duplicate payments which require a refund from the City. The issues and time spent to resolve them have become a significant problem.
The solution is to transfer credit card processing from our current 3rd party processor to a fully-integrated solution with Naviline which is only offered through CentralSquare Payments.
DISCUSSION:
CentralSquare Technologies is offering to implement Paya Connect to Naviline and Community Development (e-Trakit) products at no cost. Zero-dollar quotes are attached as Exhibits A and B.
There are no changes being made to any existing contracts with CentralSquare. A new contract with Paya and the issuing bank, BMO Harris, is required and attached as Exhibit C.
CentralSquare will waive annual maintenance fees across all CentralSquare product lines if an agreement is signed before September 27th, 2024. The total cost savings to the City over a 5 year period is $33,404. See attached Annual Maintenance savings chart Exhibit D.
CentralSquare Payments is a sole source provider of Naviline payments. A Sole Source Letter is attached as Exhibit E.
CentralSquare and Paya/BMO Harris Bank have matched our current credit card processing rates as provided in the Payment Acceptance Application, referenced herein as Exhibit F.
Funds are available in account 101-2523-415.38-01 however a balance transfer of $3k from 101-2523-415.45-87 will be required to cover the costs of the new credit card terminals for a total of $9,000.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
The financial impact of this change is the annual maintenance cost savings being offered for the entire CentralSquare product line. The only new cost incurred will be a one-time purchase of $9,000 for the new credit card terminals that are compatible with CentralSquare Payments. Therefore, total net impact of changing to CentralSquare Payments is a savings of $24,404 over the next 5 years.
Customers will not see an immediate change in the way they are currently doing business with the City. For example, a customer paying their water bill or permit will not see any difference when they pay their bill other than swiping their card via a newer credit card terminal, similar to what they already use in retail stores. However, should the City decide to enable additional features available in CentralSquare Payments, such as online bill presentment or text-n-pay, the customer will benefit from an improved payment experience.
The immediate impact of this change will be beneficial to the City of Aurora's Revenue & Collections and Accounting divisions since it eliminates transaction reconciliation issues.
If the City does not move to CentralSquare Payments we will continue to see payment reconciliation issues and service interruptions. The result is an increase in staff hours spent correcting the issues and frustration by our customers who are attempting to make a payment.
IT installation and services will be required for implementation over the course of a weekend or afterhours to ensure no disruption in business.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Approval of the Resolution Authorizing the Director of Purchasing to Sign a 3-year Service Agreement with CentralSquare Payments for Credit and Debit Card Payment Processing via Paya Connect.
cc: Finance Committee
CITY OF AURORA, ILLINOIS
RESOLUTION NO. _________
DATE OF PASSAGE ________________
title
A Resolution Authorizing the Director of Purchasing to Sign a 3-year Service Agreement with CentralSquare Payments for Credit and Debit Card Payment Processing via Paya Connect.
body
WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has a population of more than 25,000 persons and is, therefore, a home rule unit under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; and
WHEREAS, subject to said Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the City has determined that it is in the best interest of the City and its customers to have credit card payment processing fully integrated with the City's ERP system; and
WHEREAS, this agreement saves the City $33,404 in annual maintenance costs over the next 5 years; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to Aurora Code Section 2-335(a)(3) the desired product is provided by only one source in this situation
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois, as follows: The Director of Purchasing is hereby authorized to sign the attached 3-year Service Agreement authorizing CentralSquare Payments for credit card and debit card processing via Paya Connect.