Centerton court fines, fees can now be paid online
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
CENTERTON - Residents here who owe money to the Centerton City Court now have the ability to use credit cards, either in person or online, to make the required payments.
Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards are accepted under a new city program.
The new program allows residents to pay court fines and fees at the Centerton Police Department or online by credit card, said Jan Dolan, City Hall office manager.
"It's a service to our customers. I guess you say'customers' - to the court people that pay fines. They can use a credit card, and one of my staff … can go online and they enter the information. And it's done through credit card. It's a service. And the person pays the fee. Let's say you have a $ 100 fine and you come in … (to the Police Department ) and you want to pay your fine. You … (say ) you want to pay it by credit card, and (one of two city employees ) … takes your credit card and enters all your information. And she'll enter $ 100, and it automatically will charge a $ 7. 95 fee, which you (the offender ) would pay. Then we have our money, so if you need to, you can take time to pay the credit card, whereas if you do that with us, then there's penalties and fines. And if you don't pay, you can go to jail. So it's just another option for people," Dolan said.
CourtPay, a Bentonvillebased company, set up the new program. The company provides Arkansas city and county courts with the ability to accept credit cards as a form of payment from the company's Web site, www. ARcourtpay. org, a recent company press release states.
The new program began in Centerton on April 29.
Before the new option was offered, people had to pay court fees by cash or check in person or by mail. Centerton officials hope the credit-card option will make it easier for residents to meet their obligations, Dolan said.
Payments may be made at www. ARcourtpay. org, according to the press release.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
