The Challenge
Running online payments through a separate system created extra work for Council’s small office:
- Payments had to be entered twice. Online utility payments came in through Tyler Technologies, and staff then received each one into Caselle by hand.
- Reconciliation took digging. With payments arriving from a separate system, deposits didn’t always line up with the bank statement. Reconciling the bank account could sometimes take multiple days.
- Hours lost every week. The office spent three to four hours a week [confirm] tracking down payments and resolving mismatches.
The Solution
Council had used Caselle for its accounting and utility billing since 2012. When Caselle released the Citizen Portal, the city saw a way to bring online payments into the same system. With training and support from Caselle’s team in place, staff began emailing residents three months before go-live, called anyone who hadn’t switched, and moved to the portal in 2025.
The move included:
- The Caselle Citizen Portal, giving residents one place to pay utility bills by card or linked bank account.
- Automatic posting to Utility Billing, with no third-party vendor or separate integration to manage.
- Training and support from the Caselle team throughout the switch.
The Results
Reconciliation went from days to less than an hour. With payments and accounting in the same system, staff no longer have to hunt for payments that don’t match deposits.
Payments are already processed when staff log in. Resident payments process in real time and post to Utility Billing automatically. The deputy clerk logs into the portal, pulls a report, and the day’s payments are there, with no separate step to print ACH payments and receive each one.
Scheduled payments are handled in-house. When a resident wants to change or cancel a scheduled payment, staff make the change directly in the portal.
Residents are signing up. More than 100 residents use the portal, close to 20% of Council’s utility accounts, and about 53 pay automatically. When other Idaho clerks ask how Council made the switch, the city now has a plan that worked to share.
