Rate invoices and rubbish stickers mix up

Council apologises to ratepayers who had a mix up with their rates invoices this month.

There was an issue with the distribution of rates notices and rubbish stickers which has caused confusion for 639 ratepayers. A problem at the printers saw some ratepayers who pay by EasyPay direct debit system and have more than one property receiving the wrong rates invoices. Some people received invoices addressed to other people and some received no invoice at all. Rubbish stickers which are distributed with the rates invoices to all properties that have a weekly rubbish collection were also affected.

“The issue was to do with a programming error in the software used to merge rates invoices with ratepayer’s details,” said Susan Fisher operations manager at Marathon Visual Media. “We did not adequately test this aspect of the programme. Once we understood there was a problem it was investigated and has now been identified and fixed. In the future the technology involved will be updated and barcodes used to insert the correct number rubbish stickers. This problem is unlikely happen again.”

The invoices have been correctly merged, reprinted and were mailed out to all affected ratepayers on Friday 29 April. If ratepayers haven’t received an invoice or their correct number of rubbish stickers they should contact Council’s Customer Services.

The last day for the final rates instalment for the 2010/2011 year is Friday 20 May. Those affected by the mix up in the distribution of rates are all using our EasyPay direct debit system which means their rates are paid in either manageable monthly instalments or one payment each quarter on the due date. As such they do not have to worry about penalties being added to their rates account. To download the EasyPay application form to pay your rates by direct debit.