About Indianapolis and Marion County
Located in Marion County, the City of Indianapolis is home to a richly diverse community of nearly one million people. Widely known for its sports culture—including the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Colts, Indiana Pacers, and Indiana Fever—Indianapolis and Marion County also stand out for having a consolidated city-county form of government. In this unique structure, the city’s municipal functions and county government are united under one administrative body – the Consolidated City of Indianapolis and Marion County (City-County).
When it comes to revenue management, this means that both the city and county operate under different reporting permissions, revenue streams, and accounting processes, making their system more complex for staff and residents.
Within this landscape, Meg Richmond plays a pivotal role. As the Application Services Manager with the Information Services Agency for the City of Indianapolis- Marion County, Meg and her team are responsible for introducing and implementing new applications that improve the city’s operations, including ensuring payment systems meet the unique needs of its agencies and departments and their customers.
Challenge: Inconvenient Payment Options
In the past, some City-County online and in-person payment systems proved to be a more involved process for both customers and staff. Residents encountered difficulties when paying bills online for various agencies, as they often had to navigate multiple websites and logins for each department. This complexity was particularly burdensome for repeat customers—such as construction companies—who had to re-enter payment information for each transaction, leading to time-consuming inefficiencies.
For residents who preferred paying in person, long lines at the City-County Building were a serious inconvenience. Many people had to take time off from work just to make payments. Furthermore, payments over the phone weren’t PCI-compliant, leaving many wishing for a remote payment option that would work for everyone.
On the staff side, agencies and departments were using different methods for reconciling payments, leading to inefficiencies and inaccuracies. Agencies and departments required a streamlined, unified solution to simplify and speed up the entire payment process, from receipt to reconciliation.
Eventually, the City of Indianapolis- Marion County turned to Euna Payments to address these challenges, and the results were transformative.
Solution: A Multi-Channel, Multi-Agency Approach
After implementing the software in 2016, the City-County was primarily interested in enhancing how constituents interacted with government services online, resulting in the integration of five agencies into Euna Payments’ Online Payment solution. Since then, the City-County has added Cashiering for faster, more efficient in-person transactions across nine agencies, as well as the Kiosks channel for easy and accessible cash payments.
This diversification of channels was particularly beneficial during high-demand periods, such as when stormwater bills or property taxes were due. By offering multiple payment options for an increasing number of items, residents no longer had to endure long lines or take time off work to pay their bills, reducing stress and increasing customer satisfaction.
“There’s a big push in the City-County to expand digital services for all constituents, because the more payment options we can provide for people, the more time and effort it’s going to save them,” stated Richmond. “And it’s going to help centralize our records, too.”
Online Payments
The Euna Online Payments channel made it easy for constituents to make payments for multiple services at once, with the Online Payments Wallet functionality offering a substantial improvement for repeat customers. Frequent payers no longer had to enter their information each time they made a payment. Instead, their details were saved in the system, allowing for quicker and easier payments, saving valuable time, and delivering an elevated customer experience.
“The Wallet is the biggest piece of positive feedback that’s come back from the agencies” explains Richmond. “A lot of people pay for services multiple times throughout the year, so not having to re-enter their information is more crucial for them than we had imagined it to be.”
Cashiering
The Euna Cashiering channel made necessary, in-person transactions—such as document recording and notarization—more efficient, with multiple agency payments managed at the same terminal.
And for customers requiring easy remote payments, Euna Cashiering’s Paylink provided a convenient solution that checked all the boxes. When a customer calls in, cashiers send a link via email, enabling the constituent to pay online without having to visit the City-County Building or make phone calls. For customers who needed more flexibility, Paylink empowers them to make payments at their convenience.
“We had people wanting to call in and make payments, which wasn’t PCI-compliant,” Richmond explains. “So, by offering this super-quick solution, we solve two problems: staying in compliance and allowing people the freedom to make secure payments from wherever they are at their convenience.
Kiosks
The Euna Kiosks were pivotal for ensuring secure and accessible payments. Available for service 24/7, the kiosks empowered residents to pay bills when it was t convenient for them, leading to a reduction in late or missed payments and ensuring smoother reconciliation.
Revenue Management
Euna Payments Revenue Management allowed for customized reports and tailored user permissions, providing easier reporting and customer support with all necessary data (Online Payments, Cashiering, and Kiosks) in a secure, centralized location.
Seamless Onboarding
For Indianapolis-Marion County, one of the most remarkable features of Euna Payments was the ease of staff training. Cashiers quickly became proficient with the platform due to its user-friendly design and intuitive interface. Euna’s developers worked closely with City-County staff—attending meetings, providing detailed updates, and troubleshooting any issues that arose — to ensure a smooth implementation.
“They knew what reports they needed to get their job done, which was nice because it was all right there in the ‘reporting’ tab,” said Richmond. “And showing them how to add and administer their own users was super easy. I liked that feature a lot.”
Results
The implementation of Euna Payments has had a significant positive impact on both city and county agencies and departments.
12 City-County Agencies Now Using a Cloud-based, Secure Platform: Based on what a specific agency needs and offers to constituents, they are assigned one or multiple channels, making it easier for staff and constituents alike to complete transactions.
$19 Million in Monthly Transactions Processed Centrally: A large amount of revenue for the City-County, on average, comes directly from Euna Payments technology, with revenue data across all channels and payment types being reported on in real-time using Euna Revenue Management.
Tailored to Specific Agency Needs: Agencies across the City-County are now able to manage their processes and payments independently. With Euna Payments, staff have the tools to efficiently manage transactions and reconcile revenue without constant support from Meg or her team.
Less Technical Payment Issues: Euna Payments runs smoothly with little to no intervention. The system is designed to function autonomously and reliably, reducing the need for technical support.
Better User Experience: For end-users, the experience has been seamless. Cashiers can process payments more efficiently, thereby reducing the time spent navigating the system. This new streamlined approach has allowed the City-County to minimize bottlenecks, making the payment process faster and easier for everyone involved.
“I would definitely recommend Euna Payments to other public sector agencies,” Meg said. “It wasn’t a huge change for us and has definitely made our payment processes smoother and easier to access. I think we got a lot of people converted.”
Ready To See for Yourself?
Simplify payments across departments with a secure, multi-channel solution. Discover how Euna Payments can help your organization centralize revenue collection, streamline reconciliation, and improve the payment experience for both staff and customers.
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