“We found out on Thursday we can’t get pennies anymore.”
Muskegon City Manager Jonathan Seyferth brought up the issue at a recent city council work session.
“They stopped being minted in May from an executive order back in February.”
The city posted a notice on its website, asking those who pay their bills or access city services to please have exact change. If not, the total will be rounded up to the nearest five-cent increment.
“On utilities bills, it’s not that big a deal. We can credit them on the next month, things like that. Taxes are going to be a little different story but we’re working through on how that will work.”
People can still pay with pennies, but the city may not be able to give them exact change.
Producing pennies and the nickels has become more expensive than their monetary values despite efforts by the U.S. Mint to reduce costs.
As pennies become harder to get, the city can no longer rely on them for cash transactions.
“Unfortunately there’s nothing we can do about it.”
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