Cassowary Coast council adopts paperless rates notice strategy

A Far North council’s push to go paperless could save ratepayers $50,000 a year, while penalising those who refrain from the digital transition as it bolsters its resident database.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council is pushing to boost its digital rates notices.

A Far North council’s push to go paperless could save ratepayers $50,000 a year, while penalising those who refrain from the digital transition as it looks to bolster its database for communication with residents.

Of the 15,930 rateable properties within the Cassowary Coast, just 3400 have opted for digital rates notices since 2016 – when the option first became available.

In a bid to reduce its environmental footprint and lower the $50,000 annual cost of delivering paper notices, the local government at its December ordinary meeting adopted a strategy to boost email notice recipients.

It included introducing a $2.25 charge for ratepayers opting not to receive their notices via email in the next financial year, as well a competition offering five, $500 rates credits for the July to December 2025 period, for residents who are registered for digital notices.

Innisfail business centre's main street - Rankin St, including Cassowary Coast Regional Council chambers - the heritage-listed Johnstone Shire Hall.

Cassowary Coast Regional Council’s director corporate and community services Elizabeth Stavreski’s report noted private corporations including ANZ and Commonwealth Bank charged $2 for paper-based statements.

“This is very much around enhancing environmental sustainability, improving our communication with ratepayers; so having the email and phone numbers of ratepayers will really enhance our ability to quickly and efficiently communicate with them,” Ms Stavreski told the meeting.

Division 5 councillor Jeff Baines questioned the safety of collecting ratepayer information in an era “of constant data breaches and cyber attacks,” but Ms Stavreski said a recent audit of the local government’s protocols passed with “flying colours”.

“We have very high security protocols – we also make sure our systems align with Queensland Government protocols,” she said.

“We’ve also recently just had a cyber security audit in which we did very well.”

A letter from Cassowary Coast Regional Council to residents advising of a 2022 data breach linked to its after-hours provider Oracle CMS.

It comes as CCRC in late August notified 41 residents their personal data was involved in a leak, linked to the local government’s after hours third-party call centre.

The breach identified in August, occured in April, and impacted information collected in March 2022 by call centre company Oracle CMS.

Ratepayers wishing to transition to digital notices will be provided with transition details in the January mail out, and pension concession holders will be exempt from the new paper delivery charge.

Originally published as Cassowary Coast council adopts paperless rates notice strategy