* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: President Rawlings-Blake
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
Title
Informational Hearing - Neighborhood Self-Service Transaction Kiosks
FOR the purpose of investigating the financial and operational efficacy of installing neighborhood self-service transaction kiosks to provide electronic financial processing and consumer bill payment service; and requesting the Director of Finance to direct the Bureau of Purchases to determine the projected costs of installing the kiosks and to instruct the Bureau of Collections to examine the possible effects of self-service payment processing on reducing costs, increasing efficiencies, and generating new revenue streams.
Body
Recitals
The Center for Digital Government, a service that provides technology case studies, applications, news and best practices by and for international, state, city, and county governments, reports that its Digital Cities Survey's annual assessment of how well municipal governments use technology to serve citizens shows that from one end of the country to the other, cities are blending high tech and high touch in ways that fit with their unique local histories and priorities - it is not technology for technology's sake, but technology for the community's sake.
Chicago and Milwaukee were among the first U.S. cities to apply a new technology to the needs of the community by installing self service kiosks in several locations, including select bill-payment centers, police stations, and libraries. Citizens can pay municipal expenses, such as parking tickets and water bills, at these locations, using cash, checks, credit cards, and debit cards. Officials report the kiosks, that average 1,000 transactions a month, were added to make bill payment easier and promote compliance with municipal fiscal obligations.
Industry representatives report that an estimated 72 million citizens pay their monthly bills, in person; at the current rate of growth, more than $80 billion in walk-in bill payments will be processed by 2009. A significant portion of these citizens pay in person because they do not have bank accounts, credit cards, or access to the Internet. For this "un-banked" population, a significant percentage of payments are made at random locations where conducting transactions during normal business hours is difficult for persons who work a normal 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. job.
Government offices process a large number of transactions in order to deliver services to the citizens. While many citizens pay for these services impersonally by sending checks through the mail, a significant number of citizens walk into government offices where customer service representatives accept payments, dispense forms, and provide other citizens services. Typical payments for these services are as follows: 25% by check, 25% by credit card, and 50% by cash.
A one-stop, readily accessible means of paying bills, that is convenient to the consumer at the same time that it costs the government less than the current billing method, serves all interests. It can be projected, based on the Chicago model, that use of neighborhood self-service transaction kiosks could save approximately $6.00 net per transaction over current collections, while providing 99% accuracy with the real time posting of funds. If Baltimore deployed 15 kiosks averaging 70 transactions per day, the savings would be $6,300 per day and would add up to a net annual savings of $1,890,000.00 - certainly, a "Win/Win" possibility worth exploring.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body investigate the financial and operational efficacy of installing neighborhood self-service transaction kiosks to provide electronic financial processing and consumer bill payment service; and requests the Director of Finance to direct the Bureau of Purchases to determine the projected costs of installing the kiosks and to instruct the Bureau of Collections to examine the possible effects of self-service payment processing on reducing costs, increasing efficiencies, and generating new revenue streams.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Director of Finance, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
dlr 08-0155~intro/13Mar08
ccres/kiosks/nf
dlr 08-0155~intro/13Mar08
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