Effective July 1, the borough will charge a fee of around 2.5% to individuals and businesses that use a credit card to pay their utility bills, moorage fees or other port and harbor charges.

The borough loses about $100,000 a year in revenue to the credit card fees collected by its bank and card-processing companies.

“We’ve absorbed that cost” for years, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said.

The new fee is not intended to discourage people from paying their bills with a credit card, but rather to recover the processing cost charged to the borough, he said.

The municipality takes in almost $10 million a year in user fees charged for water, sewage, trash, port and harbors and Marine Service Center services.

Wrangell has allowed individuals and businesses to pay their property tax bills and sales taxes online by credit card since last fall; the borough charges a 2.75% fee to recover its costs.

Villarma said not many people pay their tax bills with a credit card, but a significant number use their cards to pay for utilities and harbor fees.

The assembly last month incorporated the new fee for utilities and harbor payments in the borough’s draft budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. A resolution adopting the new charge as part of the borough’s rate and fee schedule will be presented for assembly approval at the meeting on Tuesday, June 24, along with a separate resolution officially adopting the budget.

The assembly requested the credit card charge, the manager said, as part of an effort to balance spending with revenues by recovering the costs charged to the borough.

Several other Alaska cities and boroughs charge a fee for payments by credit card.

Juneau collects a fee of 3.29% on the bill, with a minimum of $2.95 for each transaction.

Haines charges a 3% fee for all credit and debit card payments.