Sunday, Apr. 24, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Fayetteville OKs banking services contractBy BEN NELMS Banking services provided to the city of Fayetteville will remain essentially the same with the approval Thursday by council members of a contract submitted by Wachovia Bank. Current city contract holder SouthTrust is set to merge with Wachovia in late May. In an April 4 memo to council members, assistant director of finance Ellen Walls said eight local banks responded to the citys requested proposals for banking services. Based on the proposals, city finance staff conducted a thorough comparison of rates and fees associated with investments and service charges, Walls said. Its been four years since we did this, city manager Joe Morton said at the Thursday meeting. Weve received eight really outstanding proposals from local banks and regional or national banks with offices here in Fayetteville. Banks that submitted proposals included Wachovia, BB&T, SunTrust, Bank of America, Peachtree National Bank, Southern Community Bank, Regions Bank and SouthCrest. Based on staff analysis, Wachovia was recommended to handle the citys banking services for a period of two years with a renewal option for four, one-year periods. With an initial two-year contract and the option to renew for four additional one-year contracts, that will give us six years total, Morton said. The good news here is that Wachovia has merged with SouthTrust Bank. SouthTrust is our current banking services provider so essentially well be staying with the same firm and working with the same bank. The estimated annual earnings with Wachovia, based on an average balance of $14 million in all accounts, is $379,382. This compares to $359,134 at BB&T, $351,126 at SunTrust and $317,389 at Bank of America. The remaining estimated annual earnings received from the other proposals ranged from $142,056 to $308,796. Walls said Wachovia offers all the banking services the city currently uses. Several optional services that would enhance the citys financial management are available with the bank. Those services include Direct Pay, Wachovias Payroll Card, A Benefit Program to Help Retain Your Most Valuable Employees, Electronic Check Conversion Services and Collecting and Processing Deposits and Customer Payments. |
|
Copyright 2004-Fayette Publishing, Inc. |