6.1. ERMUSR 10-12-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Oroao Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330.0430 UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING Phone: 763.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski -Finance Director/Office John Dietz, Chair Manager Jerry Gumphrey, Vice Chair Da 1 Thom son, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: October I2, 2010 61 SUBJECT: Staff U dates -Finance Director/Office Manaeer DISCUSSION: As requested from the last commission meeting, I approached Paymentus about reviewing their rate for an absorbed fee. Tbey had proposed a rate of $2.40 per transaction and now have offered a rate of $2.25 per transaction that would have a maximum of $500. The maximum doesn't limit the amount we will take for a credit card payment, only the point at which we would be charged additional fees, just like the $300 maximum that is in place now. For example, if a customer were paying a $600 bill by credit card, in the absorbed model the customer would see no fee and ERMU would be charged $4.50; $2.25 for the first $500 and another $2.25 for the additional $100. The maximum credit card transaction Paymentus would process would be $25,000 and so we would have a maximum fee of X112.50 ($25,000/$500 = 50 x $2.25 = $112.50). If it is the commission's desire to pursue this, I would need to have a motion, and then we would have an amendment drawn up from Paymentus to be signed by Troy or myself. Last month I mentioned that our insurance rates were remaining the same and at the end of the month we met with our insurance broker to review the information. It was recommended that we move from processing our Flexible Spending Accounts (FBAs) internally to an outside third party processor. The recommendation comes as a result of the compliance regulations that are in place and suggested as a protection measure for ourselves. The FSAs are accounts setup with pretax deductions that come out of the employees' paychecks each payroll and then expenses are submitted to be reviewed and reimbursed back to the employee. There is additional testing that needs to be done now and the qualifying expenses and related reviewing are becoming more complex, especially with the change to over-the-counter prescription required reimbursements. To have a third party processor our cost would be $1.83 per participant per month (potentially $64.05 per month if everyone participated). This would also allow employees to utilize a debit card for some of these expenses, rather than paying out of pocket and then being reimbursed by