Council tax is under control, say bosses

COUNCIL tax collections are still well under control in Dumfries and Galloway despite a recent write-off of nearly £300,000 in debts, council chiefs insisted this week.

A new report recently revealed that Dumfries and Galloway Council has been forced to write off Council Tax debts totalling £289,249 that were racked up by 803 accounts between April 1 and September 30 this year.

A further £77,828 has been lost due to 161 housing benefit overpayments being made.

The matter was discussed on Tuesday where councillors scrutinised the figures.

Lochar Councillor Ivor Hyslop asked: “A recent article in the press has highlighted this council is soft, giving away £300,000 in council tax.

“And the sort of feedback we get is, ‘oh, if that’s the case, why do we bother paying council tax?’

“But can you reassure the public out there that we do chase everything we can, and it’s only a case of last resort that we write them off?

“And that they’re not written off if as in: if the person is able to pay, we’ll chase them again.”

Lorna Campbell, the council’s revenues and benefits manager, replied: “Yes I can provide assurance that we do everything possible.

“These debts go through a whole recovery cycle of our reminders, final reminders, and then they’re passed to a sheriff officer for collection who will then pursue every diligence possible.”

She underlined that debt write-offs relate to cases that have been ongoing for years, saying: “This spans a period of 15, 20 years of council tax, so we don’t write them off instantly.

“The majority of these are significantly older and we only write them off once we’ve exhausted all possible efforts in recovery.”

Council leader Stephen Thompson asked for more information surrounding the 803 accounts where debts were written off, and if there were any trends.

Lorna Campbell replied: “I think it probably reflects that our collection levels, when it comes to council tax, have remained steady and remained high despite challenging economic times.”

Councillors were told that the council’s collection rate is still around 97 percent overall.