St. Paris officials have a new website running and hope a new option for online bill payments will make it more convenient for residents to pay their combined water and sewer bills.

The web site, www.stparisohio.org, has been up for a handful of weeks, said Brenda Cook, village mayor. Along with information about local businesses and a calendar of events, the site also offers residents the opportunity to pay their bills online.

The is the first time the village has offered that option to residents, said Joe Sampson, village administrator.

Previously, residents could pay their bills at the village office in person, call with credit card information or pay their bill at local banks. Overall, the village sends out bills to about 700 customers per month. So far, about 80 residents have set up accounts allowing them to pay the bills on the web.

“This just opens up another option for people to pay their bills,” Sampson said.

The site will accept payments 24 hours a day, which should make it easier for residents who wanted to pay bills when the village office was not open.

Residents will also have the option of receiving a copy of their bill via email, although only a handful of residents have signed on for that option so far.

When the village began allowing residents to pay their bills via credit card, that option took a while to catch on as well, but is now fairly popular, Sampson said. He expects the online billing option to become popular as well.

“It took about a year before we began reaping the benefits of it,” Sampson said of the credit card payment option.

The next step, Sampson said, it to add additional options to the web site, including copies of village council minutes as well as resolutions and ordinances.