While selectmen are considering pursuing a plan to allow residents to pay their tax bills and other town fees with credit or debit cards online, that convenience could come with a hefty fee.

“People think they can just go online and do these things, but you have to download a file, upload a file, and do a report to make sure everything was paid correctly,” Salem’s tax collector Cheryl Bolouk said. “You have to write specific files, and that’s going to cost money. It’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s information that’s there that you have to make sure that it’s protected.”

According to Bolouk, the challenge is determining whether the cost of purchasing and then setting up the required software would be feasible for the town. Another potential obstacle is the convenience fees charged by many of the credit card companies and whether that would be absorbed by the town or by the individual resident using a charge or debit card to pay their taxes.

“Everybody thinks it a good idea until they find out what it costs. See, it’s not free, it does cost something to someone at some point,” Bolouk said. “The cost of trying to pay your (tax bill) with a 3 percent or 4 percent convenience fee is expensive for a tax bill.”

While retailers absorb those fees charged by credit card companies for their consumers, Salem would either have to take on that cost – thereby passing the 3 percent or 4 percent fee onto all taxpayers – or require a resident choosing to use their credit cards to pay that fee themselves, according to Bolouk.

“If you took a Discover card to pay your taxes because someone wants their (card rewards or benefits) and they just paid a $3,000 or $4,000 tax bill, then unfortunately the town may end up having to pay a 3 percent fee on that,” said Kevin Breen, acting town manager. Bolouk agreed.

“I’m not charging the rest of the taxpayers because ‘Joe Smith’ wants to use a charge card.”

Bolouk said that she had been approached by about 25 individuals asking whether they could use their credit or debit cards to pay town bills. The motivation came from people wanting to rack up frequent-flyer miles or tap into their card’s rewards bonus, though according to Bolouk, many of the people she had spoken with did not realize that they may be hit with a convenience fee that on a bill for several thousand dollars would add up.

Though any serious discussion of the move remains premature until if and when voters approve the measure in March, Bolouk has begun researching third-party companies that had a history of working with municipalities and other governmental bodies.

Bolouk has also presented the board with a sample warrant article asking voters to authorize the town to accept credit cards for payment.

“People are just saying, ‘I want my frequent-flyer miles.’ That’s the bottom line. The ones that are asking because they want to pay their tax bill with a credit card. To get your frequent- flyer miles you’re going to be paying a fee. I don’t think they’re going to realize that,” Bolouk said. “People don’t think there is a cost. I have software that is specifically written that I have to make sure can interface (with a third-party company). If it’s going cost the town, then I’m not going to recommend it.”

While any move toward making town bills payable through a third-party company on the Internet would first require a warrant article approved at the next town meeting in March of 2009, Breen said that selectmen plan to host a public workshop on the possibility within the next two months.