BROOKINGS, S.D. -- The ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) criticized plans by Australia's Bathurst City Council to implement a footpath rental charge for certain ATMs located on its streets as a "disingenuous way of generating additional revenue for the council."
The Bathurst City Council plans to start assessing rental fees from banks with ATMs accessed directly from a footpath, beginning July 1. The city has budgeted in its management plan to collect $35,000 in charges in its next financial year.
(See related story Australian city to charge banks "rent" for ATMs on public paths)
Mike Lee, international director of ATMIA, which has chapters in North America, Europe, Africa and Australasia, dismissed the idea of a footpath tax for ATMs as counter-productive.
In a news release, Lee called the council's plan "one of the most retrogressive ideas in the ATM industry in its three decades of existence."
"It is part of 21st century mobility and freedom to access one's own banked money through self-service channels whenever cash is needed, close to shops and leisure facilities where the cash will be spent," Lee said. "The Bathurst City Council idea of tax for ATMs at these convenient locations is a denial of the economic realities of consumerism in today's world. Will the retailers in the area be happy about this when it has been proven over and over again that the proximity of an ATM increases sales dramatically due to impulse buying?"
