By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
Princeton Borough Council introduced an ordinance Tuesday that would give the borough the authority to recoup credit card processing fees from residents and others who make borough payments using credit cards.
Borough Administrator Robert Bruschi said for credit card payments made at the Spring Street parking garage alone, “we are underwriting the cost to the tune of approximately $50,000 annually in credit card fees.”
Given the financial straits the borough is currently in, it cannot afford to subsidize transaction fees for credit card payments, Mr. Bruschi said.
Mr. Bruschi said notice of the transaction fee policy would be appropriately posted at the garage and elsewhere.
Councilman David Goldfarb suggested not charging a transaction fee at the parking garage because charges tended to be small there and garage users might not understand they were being charged an extra fee until they had already used their credit card.
Andrew Koontz proposed making the garage credit card transaction fee only $1. “My suggestion is to take it down to a buck. That is similar to the kind of fees people encounter at an ATM all the time,” he said.
Councilman Kevin Wilkes also suggested letting garage users purchase Smart Cards with credit cards at no extra fee, thereby furthering the borough goal of encouraging Smart Card use for parking. Both his and Mr. Koontz’s suggestions were incorporated into the draft ordinance.
As drafted, the ordinance provides for the borough to levy a “convenience fee” of $1 for credit card payments up to $50; $2 for credit card payments of $51 to $100; $3 for payments of $101 to $200; and $5 or the actual credit card transaction fee, whichever is greater, for credit card payments above $201.

