One of the ways residents pay their city utility bill may be going away.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider a city staff recommendation to discontinue the use of grocery store drop boxes for utility payments.

City officials said the main reason for that recommendation is to make sure payments are posted in the quickest and most effective way, which can help avoid late fees and water shut-offs.

“This is really not an issue of the fiscal impact on the city; it’s more the fiscal impact on the customer,” said Finance Director Bryan Kidney. “We have no way of certifying or clarifying when the payment took place through the way that things are done now.”

The grocery store drop boxes do not record when a payment is received or provide residents a receipt, according to a city staff memo to the City Commission. City staff collects payments from the drop boxes only twice per week, which means customers need to allow up to six business days for processing.

Utility Billing Manager Kristen Webb said because the drop box payments aren’t processed immediately, there have been multiple occasions in the past year where customers have dropped off a payment but have still been assessed a late fee or had their water shut off.

“I think they make that payment feeling confident that their account is in good standing, but it can take up to five days to process those payments,” Webb said. “That’s a big concern.”

There are five such drop boxes at grocery stores around town, which Kidney said do include a note about the collection frequency. Currently, about 150 payments per week are received through the drop boxes, according to the memo. Those payments represent less than 2 percent of the city’s 32,000 utility customers.

A third concern noted in the memo is that not all of the boxes are locked. Instead of purchasing new lockable boxes and picking up payments more frequently, the finance department is recommending that the city cease use of the boxes effective Feb. 16.

Discontinuing the grocery store drop boxes would save the city $2,500 per year in staffing costs if the system were to remain as is, Kidney said. He said if possible, the preferred way for customers to make payments is online.

The city recently launched a new online payment system, and online payments can now be made for free. The memo states that customers can also make payments through the mail, in person at City Hall or use the City Hall drop box, where payments are collected each business day.

The City Commission will convene at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.