— Muskogee city utility customers could pay their bills online or over the phone by winter if the Muskogee City Council approves a proposed contract with an online payment system.

The city is considering a contract with the Atlanta-based bill payment company Paymentus to provide online bill payment to utility customers. The Muskogee Finance Committee approved the proposal earlier this week and sent it to the City Council, which is made up of the same members, for final approval. The council’s next meeting is Monday.

Under the proposed contract Paymentus would set up a service enabling city customers to pay their bills online, by mobile phone or through an automated phone system. It would be available to customers at any hour on any day. Customers using the system would pay a $1.95 convenience fee.

If the council approves the contract, it could take another month to six weeks to set up the system, Muskogee City Clerk Pam Bates said. She said a bill payment link would be put on the city’s website. Customers also would be able to pay in person or by mail, she said.

“In the last six or seven years, we’ve had requests from customers to be able to pay online or over the phone 24/7, but it had never been cost-effective with our software connections,” she said. “This is not for the city, but for the customers as another method for customers to pay their bills.”

A memo to Finance Committee members said the city had looked at several different companies over the past several years, but found their programs cost prohibitive.

Bates said Paymentus would set up and operate the system at no charge to the city. The memo said Paymentus serves more than 260 utility systems over 41 states with bills ranging from 10,000 a month to 2 million a month.

The $1.95 convenience fee would be charged only to people paying through the online or automated phone system and not to other customers.

“We don’t get the fee, it goes to the provider,” she said.

Customers having problems with the program or needing technical support with the program would call a 1-800 number at Paymentus, not the city, she said.

Bates talked to other cities using the program who told her “It’s a slow process in the beginning.”

“But once more and more people start paying online, after six or seven months, it picks back up,” she said.

The company also follows “very strict guidelines” to protect customers from identity theft, she said.  “They have a top rating as far as customer information goes.”

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 684-2928 or cspaulding@muskogeephoenix.com.