City of Winthrop updates utility, financial system

by Michael Looft
Recently the City of Winthrop found it necessary to upgrade our financial and utility billing software to meet the standards of today’s technology and cyber security. There are many changes coming in the next couple of months that will not only make it more efficient to run utilities but also provide cost savings for residents.
There are a couple of notices that residents will need to know about the transition, and we are hoping that residents and businesses will like the upcoming changes.
First, for the month of May (bills due in June) everyone will be receiving paper bills. Due to the migration of all customer accounts to our new system it will be more effective to paper mail all bills to customers. Currently the City of Winthrop outsources all of our billing. Going forward, all mailings will come directly from city hall. This will reduce the costs by more than 50%. If you were receiving email billing, you will also receive a paper bill. Please check your PO BOX or mailbox. If you are concerned about not receiving your bill call city hall and we can verify your mailing address on file.
Secondly, anyone currently enrolled with our online payment system RevTrak will not see an auto deduction from their account. If you wish to still pay your bill online, you can continue to use RevTrak for 1 month. Otherwise, city hall encourages customers to write a check or pay their bill in person. Auto credit card authorizations (and those that used to email Utilities@winthropminnesota.com to process payments) will cease and will not happen going forward. Setup for credit card payments will be processed through our new portal, coming soon.
Payments that were processed using ACH from the city will continue to process as normal. There will be no delay for this process. If you are unsure which system you used for payments, please contact City Hall, we would be happy to help.
A new customer portal will be available in one convenient place once the rollout begins. The new portal will process payments and automatically apply it to your account. There is no longer a lag between when you pay your bill and the update to your bill on your online account; it will be direct and automatically applied. The new customer portal uploads bills, emails bills and does payments in one system. Currently this takes three companies to accomplish this task.
During the upcoming month we will not assess late payments to accounts that were using the RevTrak system for payments. This process will be complete by the end of May and we will keep up to date information on our website at www.winthropminnesota.com/city/news-announcements.
For updates on your current bill, payment questions or to ask questions about bills please contact City Hall at 507-647-5306 or email utilities@winthropminnesota.com. The new system will be up and functioning by the end of May. In the future this system will also control building permits, dog licenses, and many other functions that will simplify processes and become more efficient. Thank you all for your patience during this changeover, we look forward to serving the community with a new system soon!