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Broken credit card machine thwarts bill payment at Petersburg City Hall

Posted at 6:04 PM, Mar 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-08 18:22:31-05

PETERSBURG, Va. – Petersburg City Hall can’t accept any payment with credit or debit, due to an issue with their machines.

Plenty of residents walking in to pay were caught off guard when they read the sign on the door.

"I was initially coming to pay my personal property taxes but they're not accepting debit cards at the moment, so I won't be doing that today,” said Rekita Goodrich. "If my taxes are due, are you going to charge me a delinquent fee because you weren't able to take my method of payment?”

Katrina Walker, like others, was leaving without paying her bill.

"I think it's a problem, cause a lot of people use their debit cards now a days,” she said.

The City said it is still accepting cash, check and money orders and there is an ATM available inside City Hall.

Residents pointed out that they have to pay a fee to get money from the ATM.

“Then if you do go get a money order, you have to pay for the money order, you have to pay for the money order fees to get the money order to pay them, so it's like you’re still losing to pay one bill,” Walker said.

The problem didn’t just stop at City Hall. The City-owned golf course has issues with its card machine for payment.

The City says it won't be accepting debit or credit cards until Monday at the earliest. Payments can be made online.

The City said they are introducing new chip card readers to provide more security. They apologized for the temporary inconvenience.

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