Issue of July 2, 2008
Times are tight, and taxes are due. Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could just put your tax bill on your credit card?
From excise taxes to parking tickets, Maine municipalities are beginning to accept credit card payments for a variety of expenses. But convenience – and higher collection rates – come at a cost.
In Scarborough alone, the town loses about $108,000 annually in bank fees when residents use credit cards to pay excise and other taxes.
Credit card use is convenient, but it is also costly. Banks generally charge about 1.5 to 3 percent of a transaction’s value to process it, meaning that the party receiving the money doesn’t get the full value of the transaction.
In some cases, such as parking tickets in Portland, the cost of credit card processing is assumed and built into the ticket amount.
In other cases, however, a resident’s decision to use credit instead of cash means that the public coffers lose money.
In Cape Elizabeth, which accepts credit cards only at the Portland Head Light and online for payment of excise tax, the town loses about $8,000 a year in processing fees, said Town Manager Michael McGovern. If the town accepted credit card payment of property taxes, it would lose a lot more.
“We’ve had a committee looking at accepting credit cards, and we’ve done estimates on what the possible cost of that would be,” he said. “It has the potential of being a lot of money. If you look at real estate taxes alone, at $22 million, if half of them were paid by credit card it would be $11 million, and if (the fee) were 2 percent, say, that alone would be $220,000 a year.”
He said a committee is currently looking into the pros and cons of accepting credit card payment for items such as building permits and community services fees.
Jim Conroy’s family has been selling gas in Scarborough for three generations, but with five of his seven gas pumps out of service, he’s wondering whether he will be the last generation to sell gas at his shop on East Grand Avenue in Pine Point.
“That will be the end of an era,” Conroy said.
Like the owners of many small gas stations throughout the state, Conroy is trying to figure out what to do with his old mechanical pumps that weren’t built to charge more than $3.99 per gallon. With new computers for the old mechanical pumps on back order, the owners of the old mechanical pumps have had to get creative, setting the price at half the actual cost at the pump and then doubling it at the register. Others, like Conroy, are wondering whether the thousands of dollars he would spend retrofitting his pumps is even worth it for the 2 cent per gallon profit he makes at the pump.
“It’s cost prohibitive,” Conroy said.
Roger LeClerc, who owns a gas and repair station on Main Street in Westbrook, had set the price at half the actual cost on his pumps while he waits for new retrofits, which he expects to receive in September. However, he received a letter from the state in June suggesting that the “half-pricing” solution wasn’t allowed.
“I don’t think we’re having any problem,” LeClerc said. “We just wish we would be able to show the price for a half gallon.”
A panel of judges met this week at the Cumberland Club in Portland to pick the top five finalists out of 560 online submissions to create designs for painting several large oil tanks in South Portland.
Organizer Jean Maginnis of South Portland said the Maine Center for Creativity received design entries from 73 countries, including the United States, Brazil, Afghanistan, Israel and the United Kingdom. She said the number of entries far exceeded the expectations of her nonprofit group, which is sponsoring the “Art All Around” competition.
The Maine Center for Creativity is proposing to use 16 Sprague Energy Corp. oil tanks to create a giant public art display that can be seen by motorists and airline passengers traveling to and from the Portland Jetport.
Developer Joel FitzPatrick has studied baby boomers his entire life.
He’s built them starter homes and trophy homes, and now, as the generation ages, he plans to build retirement homes, starting with a condominium complex for empty nesters on Eastman Road in Cape Elizabeth.
When the boomers were in high school getting good grades, recalls FitzPatrick, 49, he was in high school getting bad grades – in everything but wood shop.
While many of his contemporaries were in college, studying for lucrative professional careers, FitzPatrick was in California, building condos with a tool belt, a hammer and his bare hands.
Voters will get a second chance at approving Cape Elizabeth’s 2008-2009 school budget on July 22.
The Town Council set the date at a special meeting June 26 after a lengthy debate over both the date and the budget amount that should be sent to voters.
On June 10, voters turned down a proposed $19.7 million budget, 1,891-1,250. That budget would have been a 4.3 percent increase over the current budget.
In a second, advisory question, 1,638 voters said they thought the budget was too low, while 1,110 said they thought it was too high.
They tried not to think about the radar guns, the notebooks, or the college coaches holding them in the stands behind home plate.
But for high school kids, that’s easier said than done. Baseball players from all over Maine came to play in the Maine High School Underclass All-Star Game held last Thursday at the University of Southern Maine in Gorham. The game showcases the state’s best young talent for college coaches in the region.
“We want to impress them, but you have to block it out to do your thing,” said Scarborough junior Chris Bernard. “You have a little more energy out there knowing people are watching you, but at the same time you’ve got to keep yourself under control.”
On Saturday, 286 runners turned out to take part in the 2nd annual “5 Alarm” 5K in Scarborough. The event raised more than $13,000, which will be used to help Old Orchard Beach firefighter Andy Turcotte battle spinal cancer.
The second year of the race saw both the attendance and the money raised double, according to organizer Cindy Paquet. In addition to the money raised from race entry fees, proceeds from a bake sale, a raffle and a previously held comedy show, all added to the total.
Two Maine artists – Mark Hagen and Mark Haltof – will exhibit their work at a show on Ram Island Farm in Cape Elizabeth, July 26-Aug. 3.
For more than 30 years, these accomplished artists and friends have lived, worked and been inspired by the natural beauty of Maine, particularly Ram Island Farm and the surrounding areas. The works exhibited in this show reflect their unique vision of the Maine coast and its treasures.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
