County: Why such a high transaction fee?

It’s property tax paying time for those of us who pay separately from our mortgage payments. I generally pay twice annually, so it’s not such a huge payment.

I read the enclosed flyer about saving steps, stamps, time and trees, so I decided to pay online this year. I accept the fact that now my property tax statement will come to me via e-mail, and that’s fine. I receive a number of other notices online as well.

I went through the payment steps until I got to the final step, that of authorizing the payment and saw that a $48-plus transaction fee would be added.

Whoa! There was no mention of that in the enclosure, and such a fee would add nearly $100 to my property taxes. I bailed out on the spot and decided to save myself the transaction fee rather than the steps, stamps, time and trees.

Other organizations either absorb credit card transaction fees or charge a nominal fee. Why does Pierce County charge such a stiff fee? I don’t know, but I won’t be paying it in the near future.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 2:01 PM with the headline "County: Why such a high transaction fee?."