Council Calls for Less Paper Use at City Hall

Boston could be one step closer to being the if its administrators take the City Council’s advice about reducing paper use at City Hall. 

The council is recommending the city send its 16,000 full-time employees electronic copies of their paychecks. District 6 Councilor Matt O’Malley, who lives in Jamaica Plain, proposed the resolution and it won a unanimous vote on Wednesday at the regular council meeting.

“It’s a huge environmental waste, and it’s also a waste of energy and time,” O’Malley said about generating paper receipts for the paychecks the city deposits directly into bank accounts.

Employees who wish to receive a paper receipt of their paycheck would still be able to under the proposal, O’Malley explained.

But if most employees preferred the electronic receipts, O’Malley said the initiative could save the city from printing approximately 32,000 pieces of paper during each pay period, at a cost of $0.30 to $1.90 each.

“This is potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars that can go back to basic city service delivery,” O’Malley said.

Other business at Wednesday's meeting also focused on "greening" the city:

• The council authorized the city to accept $48,375 from energy company National Grid to continue running the city-sponsored program Renew Boston, which assesses residential and commercial buildings for energy efficiency and upgrades them for free.
• It also authorized the city to accept $450,000 from the National Parks Service to from T stations to the Freedom Trail.