Credit Card Use at Downtown Parking Machines Targeted for Feb. 1

People who use the downtown parking lots are going to have to wait a little longer before they can use credit cards to pay.

Township officials are in the process of upgrading the pay machines in three of the downtown Millburn parking lots to accept credit cards, and hope it's online by Feb. 1. The Township Committee agreed to the upgrade at a meeting in December, and it's expected to cost $835 for all six machines with an additional $1,080 in yearly fees for the service.

Tax Collector Gerald Viturello said Thursday township officials need for the software to be installed in the six machines and then will need to move forward with training before the credit card access will be available to the public. The upgrading will take the machines offline for a "very limited" time.

The machines will accept Visa and Mastercard. They also will accept debit cards with a Visa or Mastercard logo.

"It will be a nice convenience," Viturello said. "There are plenty of times get (to the machines) and they have no change. Now they'll have the option."

While the revenue from parking goes to the town, the payments will be handled by a third-party service. Township officials are in process of setting up merchant identification numbers now. It means township officials will never see nor store anyone's credit card information, Viturello said. The information goes through a secure line like a bank transfer.

"It's a secured gateway similar to what we do now with our online tax payments and recreation fees," he said.