The city's Director of Finance and Treasurer Amy Sonnenburg told council that Elliot Lake will save between $3,000 and $20,000 a year by adopting e-billing for its tax and water/wastewater accounts.
Those savings are based on getting a strong response to a new e-billing plan and promotion that council adopted Monday Night.
Sonnenberg pitched the plan, saying that based on getting 2,118 participants signed up, the city would save $10,000 this year.
She said it costs the city $1.62 to send residents one tax bill and one water bill.
"If we take into consideration that each household receives two tax bills per year – the interim tax bill and the final tax bill – and residents would also receive one tax bill and one water bill, the extrapolation of that across the city (shows) the savings would be very significant if we could have enough people and individuals enrol in e-billing," she explained.
To sign up, residents are ask to go to the City of Elliot Lake website, select "I want to", then "E-billing", and follow directions.
The technology has been used to invoice customers of the highly successful Age Friendly Delivery program.
Sonnenburg said implementation of e-billing reduces the cost to deliver bills, and also has a positive impact on the environment reducing usage of paper and printing.
There are currently 10,779 active tax rolls and water accounts. It is estimated that in 2021, the Treasury Department will issue 21,960 tax and water bills.
To encourage residents and business to enroll in e-billing, the city will offer an incentive to “win your bill”, as in water bill.
In this year's budget, the annual water bill is $806.54 for 2021. Under contest rules, all enrolments for e-billing will qualify for an entry to win their water bill, and $806.54 to be credited to their account in coordination with Earth Day – Thursday, April 22. The draw would be completed by 4 p.m.
You will be entered automatically into the Win Your Bill contest if you successfully register for e-billing on the website.
A copy of the official contest rules for this contest will be posted at https://www.elliotlake.ca throughout the contest period.
The credit will be applied to the winner's water account and will be reflected on their final bill in May 2021.