They may not even need to surcharge – in some cases simply the threat of surcharging may be enough to negotiate a lower fee with the payment provider. Second, and particularly relevant for card payments, is least-cost routing.
In the last three years there has been a slowdown in the primary expenditure of local authorities (excluding health spending), reflecting the decrease in capital spending by municipalities in 2005 and 2006 and the slower growth in the regions’ current expenditure in 2007. In recent years there has also been a tendency for the debt of local authorities to increase.