Service charges for tax payments to the city made using credit, debit cards or electronic fund transfers could be eliminated in Chesapeake under a proposed city ordinance.

Under the current city code, the service charge added to tax payments is paid by the consumer. The ordinance would temporarily eliminate the charges, with the city absorbing the cost instead.

While it’s unclear how much the ordinance would cost the city or how it would be balanced out in the budget, Chesapeake Treasurer Corrie Kring said it would benefit the city to have more taxpayers able to pay local tax bills by the due date.

Kring said she’s had a large number of people come to office locations to pay their tax bills in person with cash as the June 5 due date approaches.

But now that the United States has ceased production of the penny, employees can’t give taxpayers exact change. Even when staff go out to banks to get pennies, Kring said, the banks don’t have coins to spare.

“If, for whatever reason, we cannot make change for them, I do not want to have to turn them away,” Kring said. “I do not want to have to tell them, ‘Now I (have) to charge you a fee if you want to put it on your card.’”

Kring said she wants to make it as easy as possible for taxpayers to pay their bills on time, and for the city to collect tax revenue sooner to increase its cash flow.

She said that while her office tries to communicate that payment arrangements are available for people who may have trouble paying their tax bills, some may end up in a situation where late fees, interest and penalties snowball into growing debt. Then, it adds on to the volume of calls her office receives and the manpower it takes to get the debt paid.

“We then have less of my resources in trying to pursue delinquent taxpayers, mailing out delinquent bills, which is added postage cost, and part of my budget,” Kring said.

If the ordinance is adopted, it would take effect immediately and expire on July 1, 2027, unless extended by the city council.

The council may consider the ordinance at its June 9 meeting.