(A) (1) Any office, department, agency, board or commission of the town is authorized to accept payment by credit card, charge card and debit card (hereinafter referred to collectively as “credit card”) Issued by any bank, foreign lender, domestic lender or credit card bank as defined in the S.C. Code § 5-7-30. Payment by credit card may be for, but not limited to, taxes, license and registration fees, court fines, costs and penalties, building permits, filing fees, assessment against property, parks and recreation fees, rental expenses, event admissions and garbage/trash/recycling collection fees.
(2) A surcharge or convenience fee shall be added to any credit card payment in an amount not to exceed the transaction fee charged by the credit card issuer or processor. Payment of the surcharge or convenience fee is not refundable.
(3) With the approval of the Council, the Mayor or Treasurer is authorized to enter into appropriate agreements with one or more credit card issuers, credit card payment processors, or other appropriate parties as needed to facilitate the acceptance of credit card payments, without the need for competitive bidding to select such party or parties. Each agreement must provide that it may be canceled without penalty at any time by the town upon reasonable notice. No agreement shall exceed three years in term.
(4) No person or entity making payment by credit card shall be relieved of liability for the face amount of the payment, except to the extent that the town realizes full and final payment of the underlying obligation in cash or its equivalent. If full and final payment is not make by the credit card issuer or other guarantor of payment in the credit card transaction, the underlying obligation shall survive and the town shall retain all remedies for enforcement which would have applied if the credit card transaction had not occurred.
(5) A town employee who accepts a credit card payment in accordance with this section and any applicable policy, rule or regulation of the town shall not thereby incur any personal liability for the final collection of such payments.
(6) The Treasurer is authorized to establish policies, rules and regulations governing the acceptance of payment for municipal services by credit card and to disseminate them to all employees.
(B) (1) In the event that credit card payments to the town that are made over the internet are processed through a third party service provider, such third party service provider shall certify that it has an adequate identity theft prevention program in place that is applicable to such payments.
(2) Account statements and receipts for covered amounts shall include only the last four digits of the credit or debit card or the bank account used for payment of the covered account.
(Ord. 2020-02, passed - -2020)