Credit cards soon will be an acceptable form of payment for township tax and utility bills.

Manchester's Township Council approved a resolution Monday evening giving the Tax Collector's Office the authorization to accept the electronic payment. According to the resolution, credit cards can be used for "the payment of municipal tax, water and sewer bills."

The convenience of credit card payments will come with a user fee, said Council President Craig Wallis.

"It is not a township fee by any means," he said. "We don't process credit cards here, so there is a service that charges for that."

The fee charged by the processing company is expected to be between 2.5 and 3 percent, according to Wallis. 

"It's not the township. We don't do this to make money, we do it as a convenience to people who said they'd like to use their credit cards," Wallis said. 

Payments by cash and check will continue to be accepted by the township. Credit card payments will be able to be made at the counter at the tax collector's office.

The system will not be operation "for a couple of months yet," according to Clerk Sabina Skibo, since the township is still looking into which company it will use for the transactions.

Skibo said that it will not be the company currently used for online tax bill payments, which is available through a link on the township's website.