Austin’s citywide payments put residents first

The City of Austin, TX partners with CityBase to improve customer experience and reconciliation for web payments citywide. The new payment solution gives customers a unified way to pay any city bill online, with automated revenue management to help the city realize efficiencies.

Today, a dozen payment applications are powered by CityBase, integrated to multiple agency source systems.

Customers can easily make any Austin payment online and via mobile device, including for library fees, hotel taxes, liquor licenses, and more. They can check out as a guest, or store payment devices in a digital wallet to checkout faster next time they pay.

“We wanted customers to have one user experience across these different systems that they’re involved with, whether it be for the library or paying a permit at the city,” says Mark Caraway, Information Systems Division Manager, Financial Services, City of Austin.

Additionally, Austin wanted to improve the reconciliation process.

“We wanted to move to a gross deposit so that we can focus on automating the revenue coming in and be proactive at looking at any money leaving the City, to make sure there is no fraud occurring,” continues Caraway.

“It is definitely a responsibility to our citizens to keep up with technology, and this is a step in the right direction. We want to give them the best possible experience while also providing efficiencies here at the city.”