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2nd story
Credit card companies quash county parking fee
By Robert Lewis
Losing money on your parking lot business?
Sacramento County supervisors thought they found the solution, voting in June to add a $1 surcharge on people parking at a county lot with credit and debit cards.
Stagnant revenue combined with rising costs and debt left the Parking Enterprise with an operating deficit of almost $667,000 in fiscal year 2008-09.
The surcharge was expected to bring in about $10,000 a year, county documents say.
Mike Morse, director of general services, said that would roughly cover the transaction fee the service provider charges the county for credit card transactions.
On July 1, drivers who didn't have cash to park in the lots and used plastic were assessed the extra $1 fee.
Over the next 10 days, about 400 people paid the fee. And then the credit card companies ? after finding out about it ? put an end to it.
They told officials the county couldn't simply assess their customers surcharges.
Now the county is in the process of crediting the accounts of those assessed the fee.
Because the receipts don't have the full credit card numbers, the county is working with the service provider to get a list of customers who paid the surcharge, said Rhonda Kissane, an administrative services officer in the parking division.
Credit card companies quash county parking fee
By Robert Lewis
Losing money on your parking lot business?
Sacramento County supervisors thought they found the solution, voting in June to add a $1 surcharge on people parking at a county lot with credit and debit cards.
Stagnant revenue combined with rising costs and debt left the Parking Enterprise with an operating deficit of almost $667,000 in fiscal year 2008-09.
The surcharge was expected to bring in about $10,000 a year, county documents say.
Mike Morse, director of general services, said that would roughly cover the transaction fee the service provider charges the county for credit card transactions.
On July 1, drivers who didn't have cash to park in the lots and used plastic were assessed the extra $1 fee.
Over the next 10 days, about 400 people paid the fee. And then the credit card companies ? after finding out about it ? put an end to it.
They told officials the county couldn't simply assess their customers surcharges.
Now the county is in the process of crediting the accounts of those assessed the fee.
Because the receipts don't have the full credit card numbers, the county is working with the service provider to get a list of customers who paid the surcharge, said Rhonda Kissane, an administrative services officer in the parking division.
