City of Chicago Triples Self-Service Payment Kiosk Network to Enhance Access at More Than 70 Locations Citywide

By: GTY Technology Holdings Inc. via Business Wire

September 08, 2021 at 09:00 AM EDT

The City worked with long-time partner CityBase to introduce payment kiosks in 52 new neighborhood locations this year

The City of Chicago and CityBase, a leading provider of government and utility payment technology, today announced an expanded engagement that introduced 70+ self-service payment kiosks to neighborhoods across Greater Chicago. CityBase is a business unit of GTY Technology Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: GTYH), a leading provider of SaaS/Cloud solutions for the public sector.

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Chicago's more than 70 payment kiosks provide self-service access in downtown and neighborhood locations, where residents can pay for water bills, parking tickets, taxes, and more. Photo by Kyle Flubacker, courtesy CityBase.

Chicago engaged with CityBase in 2017 to provide customers with self-service payment options online and via kiosks. On the kiosks, customers can pay for utility bills, parking tickets, business taxes, citations, and more using cash, check, credit, debit, and prepaid cards.

In 2021, the City introduced 52 new payment kiosks — most recently with a 30-kiosk rollout this summer — bringing their total footprint to 74 kiosks at 70 locations citywide, including several that offer 24/7 access.

Kiosk locations include City Hall and City Clerks’ offices, libraries, police stations, family services and community centers, and other payment centers. Customers can access the kiosks downtown and in neighborhoods across the City — as far south as 131^st Street, as far east as Hegewisch, as far north as Rogers Park, and as far west as Austin and Clearing.

“Now more than ever, it’s important that everyone has easy-to-use, self-service payment options in their own neighborhoods,” said Reshma Soni, Comptroller for the City of Chicago. “Customers who want or need to pay in person can do so in locations near their homes. This ensures that all residents have equal access to stay current on their important bills. The CityBase kiosks provide our customers with real-time information about their balance, helping them to avoid fees and penalties. The payment technology makes it easy for people to pay multiple City bills on a single kiosk machine, with automated reconciliation to the right department, which helps our staff.”

“The City of Chicago and CityBase have long shared the priority of improving access to public services for every single resident, no matter where they live in the City,” said Mike Duffy, CEO and founder of CityBase. “By dramatically increasing self-service options for people who pay in person, the City is making it more convenient for people to pay for obligations like monthly water bills in their own neighborhoods, during a time that works for them.”

Many customers who pay in person prefer to pay with cash, some of whom may be under-banked, without access to a bank account or credit card. Their only alternative may have been to take off work during business hours to make a payment, or to use high-fee services like check cashing stores. The new kiosks let customers pay in cash without incurring any added fees. Kiosks also promote the safety of residents and staff by reducing person-to-person contact in government buildings and other payment locations.

The kiosk technology is integrated in real-time to underlying City department databases, promoting efficiencies for the City by reducing time-consuming manual payment processing and reconciliation. This technology enables customers to look up their current amount due on the kiosks using a variety of options. Customers can make a full or partial payment and the transaction immediately posts against their balance, helping customers avoid late fees or other penalties, including if they pay after business hours.

About CityBase

CityBase makes government and utility technology that modernizes and unifies the way people find, apply, and pay for services. More than 100 government agencies, utilities, cities, and counties use CityBase technology to provide hassle-free payments and digital services to their customers and staff. CityBase integrates payment functionality, business processes, and communications onto a central, cloud-based platform that consumers can access through the web, mobile, kiosk, and point of sale. Learn more at thecitybase.com.

About GTY Technology Holdings Inc.

GTY Technology Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: GTYH) (“GTY”) brings leading public sector technology companies together to achieve a new standard in stakeholder engagement and resource management. Through its six business units, GTY offers an intuitive cloud-based suite of solutions for state and local governments, education institutions, and healthcare organizations spanning functions in procurement, payments, grant management, budgeting, and permitting: Bonfire provides strategic sourcing and procurement software to enable confident and compliant spending decisions; CityBase provides government payment solutions to connect constituents with utilities and government agencies; eCivis offers a grant management system to maximize grant revenues and track performance; OpenCounter provides government permitting software to guide applicants through complex permitting and licensing procedures; Questica offers budget preparation and management software to deliver on financial and non- financial strategic objectives; Sherpa provides public sector budgeting software and consulting services.