Vendor AMCS tells Seward County it misdirected about $105,021 across ~240 card payments; refunds and process fixes planned

County officials and AMCS Group representatives spent the bulk of the work session reviewing a payment-processing misconfiguration that affected the county landfill account.

Sean Pullman, president of AMCS Group in North America, told commissioners the vendor identified "roughly 240 transactions that totaled 105,021 and $21.04," a sum the company says was directed into the county account in error during a configuration problem. AMCS said it corrected the configuration on Dec. 3 and audited affected transactions. Pullman said AMCS will process reversals and refunds to cardholders and will reimburse the county for processing fees and other direct costs the county incurred because of the error.

County billing staff reported large operational impacts. Amanda (county billing staff) described outreach steps: the merchant processors are contacting affected cardholders, follow-up phone calls are being made, and the county has sent letters with billing statements informing customers how to reconfirm autopay. Amanda said the county has instructed staff to keep autopay roles off until customers call and reconfirm their payment details, to avoid inadvertent large withdrawals when the system is re-enabled. She also outlined temporary consumer-relief measures, including a likely 60-day leniency window once systems are stable.

Staff and vendor agreed on an expedited follow-up plan. AMCS said it had put internal process controls and a forthcoming software change in place to prevent recurrence and that it expects the reversal/refund work and reporting fixes to be complete within weeks. Commissioners asked whether AMCS would reimburse any fees or penalties the county faces (for example, sales tax reporting or third-party fees); AMCS representatives confirmed they would reimburse assessed fees and costs related to the misdirected transactions. The county asked AMCS to provide a status update at the first January meeting and to remain available as staff continue reconciliation and remedial communications.

No formal vote or contractual action was recorded at the work session; commissioners discussed withholding vendor payments as a procurement option until AMCS demonstrates the issue is resolved.