Pay no Council Tax for up to a year

Residents in St Albans District who sign up to receive their Council Tax bills electronically will be entered into a prize draw with the chance to win £2,000.

The sum more than covers the yearly Council Tax for a Band D property.

St Albans City and District Council is holding the draw to encourage more people to ditch paper bills.

That is not only good for the environment, preserving precious resources, but also saves Council tax-payers a considerable sum.

It costs the Council around 42p to print and post a bill with around 60,000 households having to be contacted each year.

So far, around 6,500 people have signed up to e-billing with more than 50,000 still to convert.

If the draw encourages just another 5,000 to sign up, it will mean it has more than paid for itself.

It is also likely those who sign up will continue with e-billing in future years, adding to the savings.

To be entered into the prize draw, residents need to sign up to receive their Council Tax Bill electronically before Sunday 21 February 2021.

They will also have to be a Council Tax charge-payer in the District on Thursday 1 April 2021.

Residents who have already signed up for e-billing will be automatically entered into the prize draw.

The draw will take place in April 2021 and the winner will have the money credited to their Council Tax account.

To sign up to e-billing, you will need to set up a MyStAlbans District account: www.stalbans.gov.uk/mystalbans.

Councillor Karen Young, Portfolio Holder for Resources, said:

The prize draw is an initiative which a number of other Councils have used and has two main advantages.

It promotes sustainability as e-billing has the potential to greatly reduce the amount of paper we use up.

This is very much in keeping with our priority of improving the environment and conserving resources.

For Council tax-payers there is a further win as the more people who use e-billing, the more money we save at a time when our services are in great demand during the Covid-19 pandemic.

I urge every resident who has not signed up to e-billing to do so now. It only takes a few minutes and you never know, you might get lucky.

For full terms and conditions, see: https://www.stalbans.gov.uk/prize-draw.

Councillor contact:
Councillor Karen Young, Portfolio Holder for Resources for St Albans City and District Council: cllr.k.young@councillor.stalbans.gov.uk, 07495 504570.

Contact for the media:
John McJannet, Principal Communications Officer, St Albans City District Council: 01727 819533, john.mcjannet@stalbans.gov.uk.