Bonner County, Idaho Solid Waste Sites to Accept Card Payments After Unanimous Commissioner Vote
SANDPOINT, Idaho — Bonner County residents visiting any of the county’s 11 staffed solid waste collection sites will soon be able to pay their fees with debit or credit cards, following a unanimous vote by the Bonner County Board of Commissioners on April 14. The decision ends years of cash-only transactions at the sites and addresses longstanding public requests for more convenient payment options.
The board approved a three-year contract with Stellar ScaleTech, a software and hardware provider, at a one-time fee of $30,300 plus an annual subscription of $21,760. The system will handle payment processing, generate customer receipts and invoices, produce operational reports, and improve accuracy and commodity tracking across all sites. Cash and check payments will continue to be accepted alongside the new card payment option.
Years in the Making: Budget Finally Allows Upgrade
The push for card readers at Bonner County’s solid waste sites is not new. The issue has surfaced in multiple public workshops over the past several years, but according to county officials, Fiscal Year 2026 marks the first time the Bonner County Solid Waste department has had the budget to move forward with the purchase.
Solid Waste Operations Manager Melissa Gault described the Stellar ScaleTech system as a tool that will “improve accuracy and commodity tracking” while modernizing the department’s day-to-day operations. Currently, site attendants manually write receipts for every transaction — a time-consuming process that leaves room for human error and limited tracking capability.
The county has not yet finalized negotiations with credit card companies regarding user transaction fees. Officials indicated those fees will fall somewhere between 3% and 5%, a standard range for card processing in government settings.
Security Concerns Drove the Decision Alongside Convenience
While improved customer service was a major factor in the decision, commissioners also cited a serious and recurring safety concern: multiple solid waste sites have been burglarized after hours over the past several years. Thieves have targeted the petty cash used for making change and collecting payments on-site. Each incident has forced the county to dip into its budget to replenish stolen cash reserves and cover costs for any property damage caused during the break-ins.
Commissioner Asia Williams addressed the dual nature of the upgrade directly. “What we did was, we did evaluate the fact that we’re only able to take cash at the locations,” Williams said. “And so it wasn’t just a return on investment, it was also a safety and security [measure], and then addressing the people’s concern about taking cash without having the cards to be able to slide.”
When asked about the financial return on investment for the county, Williams was candid, noting that “it’s more of a service to the public” that users have been requesting for years. Reducing on-site cash holdings directly lowers the risk and cost associated with future thefts — a practical benefit that extends beyond convenience alone.
The move reflects a broader conservative principle of responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources: by minimizing cash on hand at county facilities, Bonner County reduces its financial exposure to theft and the downstream government spending required to recover from those losses.
What Comes Next
The Stellar ScaleTech system is described as just one piece of a larger capital improvement plan for Bonner County Solid Waste. With better data on site usage now within reach, county leadership is already looking ahead to potential rate restructuring.
BOCC Chair Brian Domke outlined that future vision clearly. “I think it’d be great if we can scale the cost to the volume of use so that people are paying for their actual use,” Domke said. “And again, we’re trying to reduce subsidizing the cost of others.”
In the coming years, the county plans to explore additional systems that would allow residents to pay different rates based on actual dump usage — a tiered approach that would align costs more directly with individual use rather than spreading expenses across the broader taxpayer base.
Implementation details and a rollout timeline for the card payment system at all 11 staffed sites have not yet been publicly announced. Residents can expect updates from the Bonner County Board of Commissioners as the contract with Stellar ScaleTech moves into its operational phase. For broader coverage of Idaho government and fiscal policy, visit Idaho News and the Idaho News Network.