Credit card fees explained
If a Barton County taxpayer goes to the County Treasurer’s office to pay their tax bill or go online to make a payment, and uses a credit or debit card, there is a 2.5 percent fee for the transaction.
In other words, there is an additional $2.50 for every $100 in taxes paid electronically.
This fee, County Treasurer Kevin Wondra told the County Commission Monday morning, is charged by the credit card companies, not his office. Furthermore, it has to be passed along to the customer.
He said they are not allowed to use tax money to pay the added charge. This is different than a private business that can pay the fee, and make up the shortfall by adjusting their prices.
The extra charge applies to property and motor vehicle taxes.
Barton County Treasurer Kevin Wondra again came under fire from members of the County Commission Monday morning over his office’s continuing struggles to finish reconciling tax rolls, struggles that drew a stern warning earlier this year from the county’s auditors.
In his own defense, Wondra said his staff was dealing with the implementation of new county-wide bookkeeping software and turnover in the department. Nonetheless, “I dropped the ball.”
According to county Finance Officer Jessica Wilson, auditors gave Wondra’s office until May 9 to have the work finished. But, “we are behind.”
Now, the county will likely face additional fees from the accounting firm Adams, Brown, Beran and Ball since the deadline was not met, Wilson said. The auditors are returning on May 20 to assess the progress and she encouraged Wondra to finish as quickly as possible.
“Are you going to be ready?” Commissioner Don Davis asked of Wondra.
“I hope so,” he replied.
“I’d rather hear you will be ready,” Davis responded.
The treasurer said he has all the necessary reports now and should have the reconciliation done in a day or two.
Wondra admitted that the reconciliation could have started in November of last year. “I didn’t get to it when I should have.”
But, at the time, the office was smack in the midst of tax season and his staff was busy.
Tax roll reconciliation involves making sure all the adjustments made to incoming taxes (in the form of abatements, refunds, and added and escaped taxes) balances with the money in the county’s tax fund. This was a difficult year for officials in that they started the tax season with one software system and concluded with a new one.
Back in February, a frustrated County Commission approved the hiring of a full-time “analyst” to serve as an assistant for Wondra.
To create the position, one part-time job will be eliminated. The person who was cut was the only person in the office who had dealt with the reconciliation process.
Monday, Wondra said he was going to ask the employee to stay on until the reconciliation was completed, but she resigned before he had the chance. She left immediately before she could train the new person.
Commissioner Jennifer Schartz call the situation a “train wreck.” It made no sense, she said, to get rid of the one person familiar with the system.
Wondra admitted he didn’t know how the reconciliation process worked. And, there is no one to show anyone how to do the job.
“This is the blind leading the blind,” Commissioner Homer Kruckebnberg said. “It is a hell of a way to run a railroad.”
“You should be able to take over,” Commission Chairman Kenny Schremmer said. Schremmer insisted that they didn’t want Wondra to feel like he was in the hot seat, but his comments took a lecturing tone.
Wondra said he planned on doing a better job at cross-training his staff. He also promised to keep the Commission apprised of his progress on the reconciliations.
Various shortcomings first came to light in February when Vickie Dreiling of the accounting firm Adams, Brown, Beran and Ball reviewed her pre-audit letter for the county. Dreiling said there were issues with how the office dealt with the recording of tax revenue and the processing of tax abatements, in addition to the reconciliation of bank records.
Most of the problems had been rectified, but concern lingered over the long-term effectiveness of the office.
