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Lodi, Calif., Moves to New Billing System After Glitches

After complaints from citizens about unwarranted late fees and billing problems, the city is pivoting to a new software and kiosks in city hall.

(TNS) — The City of Lodi launched new billing software on Monday. City staff has been working since September to get the software up and running.

The city decided to implement new billing software, known as Invoice Cloud, to mitigate a series of glitches and issues with the former billing system. With the former software, customers complained the system occasionally would not acknowledge payments and sent a late fee bill in the mail, even though they had paid. The old software was also very limited when it came to payment options.

According to Deputy City Manager Andrew Keys, the new system is an improvement over the former billing system. It has a scalable online interface, which means it’s compatible with PCs, Macs and tablets, as well as iPhone and Android smartphones. The software also has the ability to do basic payment verification.

“Before it gives you a confirmation, it will make the general verifications to ensure the payment is valid,” Keys said.

The new system also allows recurring payments through credit and debit cards, Keys said, a feature not possible with the old software. It will also show customers their current bill as well as few months of archives. The software can store up to 18 months of billing history — although it won’t have everything from before the switch. According to Keys, the city made the decision to not upload all 18 months up front, but instead let it build up over time.

“It’s just too time intensive to do that, too labor intensive to do that. Over time, it will store all of that information,” Keys said.

Customers will now have the option to pay with credit and debit over the phone, and within the next few months the city will be installing kiosks at the finance department lobby to give customers a self pay option. The kiosk — which will also run the Invoice Cloud software — will help to eliminate congestion during the department’s busy times, Keys said.

In order to access the new billing system, Keys said, customers can go to invoicecloud.com/lodica or css.lodi.gov, which will redirect them to the new site.

Customers don’t have to register on the new system in order to make a payment. They can simply enter their account number and their last name to access the information.

Those seeking to use auto pay must register, Keys said. According to Keys, registration is simple, and all that’s needed is a password and an email address.

The transition to the new software hasn’t cost the city anything. However, there is a cost per transaction that will be borne by the administrative component of operating the utility through which the bills are generated, Keys said.

©2018 the Lodi News-Sentinel (Lodi, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.