Modernizing Municipal Billing: How Unified Digital Platforms Cut Costs & Build Trust

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Outdated Billing Hurts Everyone

Government agencies, especially at the municipal and county levels, often find themselves stuck working with outdated billing systems that hinder efficiency and diminish public trust. These systems—built on decades-old infrastructure—require manual processing, result in higher labor costs and frustrate both staff and residents. For citizens, late notices, confusing bills and limited payment options breed dissatisfaction. For governments, these legacy processes mean wasted staff hours, delayed reconciliations and rising costs.

The solution? A government-specific unified, digital bill payment platform that modernizes workflows across departments while enhancing transparency and customer satisfaction. With tools like mobile-friendly portals, automated reconciliation and secure payment processing, modern platforms not only improve operations—they help build trust with constituents. Municipalities can do more with fewer resources, while giving residents the seamless digital experiences they’ve come to expect.

 

Pain Point: Staff Shortages & Rising Costs

Small and mid-sized governments are under increasing pressure to deliver more with less. The Great Resignation, retirements and public sector hiring challenges have all contributed to workforce shortages that make it difficult to keep up with daily payment processing, reconciliation and reporting.

Manual workflows compound the problem. When payments must be logged by hand, spreadsheets updated manually or paper checks deposited at a bank, staff are bogged down by tasks that could easily be automated. Worse, the risk of error increases with every manual step.

A more-in-one solution like Forte’s BillPay simplifies this burden by automating routine tasks—such as sending eBills, applying payments to the correct account and reconciling end-of-day reports. The platform integrates across departments so that finance, permitting, courts and utilities are no longer working in silos. This not only saves time but also minimizes the need for staff to learn multiple systems or enter data multiple times.

 

What a “More-in-One” BillPay Platform Looks Like

A lot of governments accept online payments, but the systems are often piecemeal. One tool for water bills. Another for court fines. A third for permitting. The result? Confusion, data silos and extra costs.

Forte’s BillPay solution consolidates those fragmented systems into a single platform. Whether it’s utility billing, taxes, licensing or court payments, all payments flow through a unified interface with configurable workflows and real-time reporting.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

  • One resident login to pay multiple bill types
  • Mobile-first interfaces that support multiple languages
  • Automated payment reminders, late fee notifications and follow-ups
  • Built-in convenience fee support, helping cities recoup costs
  • Text-to-pay and email link features for on-the-go convenience
  • Integration with ERP/accounting tools to reduce reconciliation workload

For example, Dimmit County, Texas, implemented Forte’s Text to Pay feature and saw a 3x increase in weekly payments in just the first week. Call volumes dropped, errors decreased and customers reported faster, easier payments—even from their phones.

And because Forte is PCI Level 1 compliant, all transactions meet the highest standards of data security.

 

How to Get Started: Quick Wins and Long-Term Payoffs

Digital transformation might sound expensive, but it often starts with a few simple changes—like switching to emailed bills or offering multiple payment methods. From there, you can scale up to fully integrated portals and automation.

Forte works with your existing systems or helps migrate you to more modern tools. And with hands-on support, development flexibility and years of experience in government payments, our team becomes an extension of yours.

Here are some quick wins to look for:

  • Offer online and mobile payments with email/text notifications.
  • Reduce staff time with auto-posting and real-time updates.
  • Use dashboards to flag payment patterns and missed deadlines.
  • Pilot text-to-pay in one department (like courts or utilities).
  • Train staff in reconciliation and reporting automation.

The payoff? Reduced calls, faster collections, less manual work—and a noticeable boost in public satisfaction.

 

It’s Time to Modernize the Way You Collect

Modern billing isn’t just a tech upgrade—it’s a strategic move that helps local governments do more with less. With Forte’s unified digital platform, you’re not just collecting payments. You’re saving staff time, improving public trust and aligning departments under one enterprise-ready system.

You don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. But you do need a partner who understands the complexity—and can make it simple. Start where you are and scale when you’re ready.

Ready to explore how Forte BillPay can work for your city or county? Talk to a Forte expert today.