(A) The City of Lawrenceburg, Indiana and Lawrenceburg Municipal Utilities (LMU ) desire to accept credit cards as payment to the City and LMU for transactions related to public service and activity.
(B) CREDIT CARDS shall be defined as credit cards, debit cards, check cards, and stored value cards administered by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.
(C) I.C. 36-1-8-11 allows a city, town or municipally owned utility to accept credit cards for transactions by enacting a local ordinance.
(D) The City and LMU are hereby directed to comply with and conform to all applicable rules, regulations and requirements of Indiana law as well as those of the Indiana State Board of Accounts in the utilization and acceptance of credit cards for transactions related to public service and activity.
(E) If there is a charge to the city or LMU for the use of a financial instrument, the city or LMU may collect a sum equal to the amount of the charge from the person who uses the financial instrument. The procedure authorized for a particular type of payment must be uniformly applied to all payments of the same type.
(F) The city or LMU may contract with a bank card or credit card vendor for acceptance of bank cards or credit cards. However, if there is a vendor transaction charge or discount fee, whether billed to the city or LMU or charged directly to the city or LMU’s account, the city or LMU may collect from the person using the card either or both of the following:
(1) An official fee that may not exceed the transaction charge or discount fee charged to the city or LMU by bank or credit card vendors.
(2) A reasonable convenience fee:
(a) That may not exceed $3; and
(b) That must be uniform regardless of the bank card or credit card used.
(3) The fees described in divisions (1) and (2) may be collected regardless of retail merchant agreements between the bank and credit card vendors that may prohibit such fees. These fees are permitted additional charges under I.C. 24-4.5-3-202.
(G) The city or LMU may pay any applicable bank card or credit card service charge associated with the use of a bank card or credit card under this section.
(H) The Common Council of the City of Lawrenceburg es officially and formally ordain that the City of Lawrenceburg and Lawrenceburg Municipal Utilities will accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover credit cards, debit cards, check cards, and stored value cards as a method of transaction consistent with the provisions of I.C. 36-1-8-11, the requirements of the Indiana State Board of Accounts, and this section.
(Ord. 2022-11, passed 9-6-2022)