20 July 2010

Washoe County, NV has implemented its new E-Payables program that increases the number of vendors paid through automation.  Participating vendors now can receive their payments within one to three business days by accepting an electronic credit card payment from the County, and the County earns an annual rebate from the bank, based upon the volume of payables enrolled. Each participating vendor receives a unique MasterCard account number to use to process their payment.  These cards have a limit of $0 until payments are authorized by the County, virtually eliminating risk of fraud.  Once a payment to a vendor has been authorized, the payment file is sent to Bank of America's WORKS Application through secure File Transfer Protocol (FTP). 

The WORKS Application processes the file with an increase in the available funds on the card from $0 to the exact payment amount authorized by the County.  Simultaneously, the WORKS Application forwards a remittance to each vendor via fax or e-mail.  The vendor processes the payment by keying in the remittance data to their own A/R and credit card payment systems. 

The County reconciles monthly the payments authorized to the Bank of America credit card billing statement and forwards payment to Bank of America, increasing the County’s cash flow by approximately 45 days. 

Washoe estimates that the County will earn an annual rebate amount of $192,000 in the first year of implementation, and realize savings from reduced check printing, banking and mail costs of approximately $8,500.

Implementation of this program was a collaborative effort between the County’s Technology Services Department, the Comptroller’s Office and Bank of America.

For more information, please contact: Sheri Mendez, CPA by Phone: (775) 328-2561 or email smendez@washoecounty.us