Aberdeenshire Council could strike a new £1.2million deal to bring in bailiffs to collect unpaid taxes.
The debt collection contract could help the local authority claw back some of the £42million owed by residents and businesses in the region.
Councillors will be asked to approve the six-year deal when they meet later this week, but last night campaign group TaxPayers’ Alliance described the plans as a “very expensive plaster” to address a wider problem.
The authority sparked a national furore after the independence referendum when it was revealed that electoral roll details could be used to collect debts from newly-registered voters.
And now the council’s finance team have asked members to authorise a new £1.2million, six-year contract to recover unpaid council tax, business rates, housing benefit over-payments and a host of other sundry debts.
Last night council co-leader Richard Thomson said: “Councils, just like any business, need to have a means of managing and in the last resort recovering outstanding debts.
“Aberdeenshire has a good record of collecting outstanding bills and council tax revenues, and we want to continue to ensure this remains the case while ensuring that appropriate support is available to those individuals who find themselves in hardship and genuinely unable to pay.”
In the past six years private debt collectors have recovered £28.3million of cash owed to the council.
The new deal will give sheriff officers the power to claim back some of the £42million of outstanding debt and any taxes not paid during the next six years. Not all outstanding debt can be reclaimed however, as the time limits on collecting some pots of money have now lapsed.
Dia Chakravarty, political director of campaign group TaxPayers’ Alliance, branded the new contract as a “very expensive plaster” on a wider problem of failing to collect the right amount of council tax, and overpaying benefits.
“Ultimately, while it is only fair that people pay their correct share of council tax, it is important to keep the tax bill down so that ordinary taxpayers aren’t struggling to make the payment,” she added.
Members of Aberdeenshire Council’s policy and resources committee will vote on Thursday on whether to authorise a new contract.
The proposed deal will cost £1.2million over six years, a £600,000 saving on the previous contract.