Dave Huckaby: Why does city need to charge ‘processing’ fee when few others are?

Re “Modesto may charge customers who use debit, credit cards to pay city bills” (Page 3A, May 30): I read with interest that our fair city is considering charging customers what boils down to a processing fee for those who want to pay utility bills and other services with a credit or debit card. The fee is what they claim they pay a company for processing the credit or debit card payments.

It seems the city is moving backwards in how they conduct business with residents. I checked the city of Sacramento, and it doesn’t charge a processing fee for online payments. The last time I shopped at a local retailer was I not charged a fee for making a payment with plastic.

So the only option would be reverting back to checks or cash to avoid paying an extra fee. Doesn’t make a lot of sense.

This story was originally published June 1, 2017 at 1:21 PM with the headline "Dave Huckaby: Why does city need to charge ‘processing’ fee when few others are?."