Residents will soon have a less-expensive way of making payments to Butler County for property taxes, licenses and possibly more.

County commissioners on Wednesday approved a contract with a new online payment vendor, which will offer significantly lower convenience fees for electronic checks and debit and credit cards.

Diane Marburger, the county treasurer, told commissioners that making payments through the new vendor, Municipal Services Bureau, will offer residents a lower cost.

MSB will likely begin serving as the county’s online payment vendor in late July or August, Marburger said.

“Currently, if you come into my office and use your credit card or debit card to make a payment over the counter, it’s 2.65% with a $3 minimum. With this MSB payments, it’s 2.19% if you use a credit card, instead of 2.65%, with no minimum,” Marburger said. “If you use a debit card, it drops to 1.79% with no minimum, from 1.95%.”

The lower rates apply across the board to American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa credit cards, and to MasterCard and Visa debit cards.

While the lower cost to residents and taxpayers for card transactions can be significant, Marburger said she is more excited by the lower price for electronic check transactions.

“The big hitter, in my mind, is if you use an e-check, which is an ACH (Automated Clearing House network) payment,” Marburger said. “Currently, you would pay $1.50 for that transaction. (Under) this (agreement) it would be 20 cents.”

Online payments, according to the treasurer, are popular with the Tax Claim Bureau.

“When we get close to the end of the year and people want to pay before they get out of 2022, that’s when we’ll see a little tick up with the online part,” Marburger said.

Commissioners Chairwoman Leslie Osche said Marburger has been working on finding a servicer offering lower fees for “at least a decade.”

Although the Treasurer’s Office will likely be the first to adopt the new payment vendor, Marburger said it could potentially be adopted for any payments to the county.

“It’s an umbrella agreement,” she said. “Any department, after I (the Treasurer’s Office) go with it and tax claims goes with it, is able to try it. They’re included.”

Fees associated with online and card payments will “hold true going forward” under the agreement, Marburger said. The agreement is for three years, with automatic one-year renewals afterward.

All fees associated with online and card payments are paid by the person making the payment, with no county funds allocated for the contract.