A PLEA has gone out to Redditch residents to stop using cash to pay their council tax and rent and start using an alternative method of payment.
Members of the borough’s executive committee heard that nearly 5,000 people continue to make monthly council tax payments in cash.
However in some cases it actually costs more to collect the money in Pounds and Pence than the actual sum paid over.
And with the authority having to find in the region of £800,000 in savings in the next financial year, Councillor Tom Baker-Price (Con, Headless Cross & Oakenshaw) said considerable savings could be made if residents made payments by direct debit instead of cash.
“We are looking at numerous ways to make savings and one of them is moving to being a ‘cashless council’,” he said.
“At the moment we have three One Stop shops, in Batchley, Winyates and Woodrow plus the Town Hall, and these have two members of staff waiting to process cash payments.
“If we moved to a cashless system, or some kind of paypoint card like with the utilities, we could redeploy these staff elsewhere.”
He added the resulting savings could be considerable.
The council is also looking at modernising its computer system in an effort to make further savings with more schemes being developed.
