Dundee has seen the biggest improvement in Scotland in its council tax collection rate.
Figures just released for the 2010-11 financial year show 93% of the money due was paid up 1.6% on the previous year and no other local authority managed even a 1% rise.
A city council spokesman said, “These figures show that the council’s sustained efforts are making a real difference to the amount of outstanding council tax we are able to collect.
“Dundee City Council does all it can within the legislation to pursue council tax that has not been paid and in the past four years has collected 95% of council tax due £638 million out of £672 million.”
Dundee’s result still left it with the second lowest collection rate out of 32 councils after Glasgow. However it closed in significantly on the national average, 94.6%.
Angus and Perth and Kinross both have consistently good records and they sustained that this time, with rates of 96.6% and 96.5% respectively. Fife was only a little better than Dundee on 93.8%.
The city council has been able to collect more of what it is owed almost every year since the start of the century.
Its rate in 2000-01 was only 85% more than 5% down on the national average.
The figures from Scotland’s chief statistician show council tax bills totalled £1.972 billion in 2010-11 and by the end of the year £1.867bn had been paid. Some 20 councils saw rises in collection rates compared to the previous year, while four showed no change and eight recorded decreases.Dundee has traditionally charged one of the highest council taxes in Scotland. The council has usually justified that by pointing out that it has a high level of demand for its services given the socio-economic problems in the city.Single person reviewMeanwhile, the council has revealed plans to carry out a comprehensive review into the number of people claiming a single person discount on council tax.
A total of £30,000 has been set aside in the Financial Department Revenues budget to pay for the review, which will be undertaken by the third party CAPITA if approved.
The proposed pilot is designed to uncover an accurate figure on the number of residents who do and do not meet criteria for the discount which can be as much as 25%.
Depending on the tax band the council could raise between £267.43 and £802.28 per case if the discount is cancelled.
In cases where a “risk” is identified the tax payer will be contacted by letter and told in order for the discount to continue they will be required to undertake a telephone interview.
CAPITA call centre staff will deal with these calls and make appointments.
There are approximately 32,000 domestic properties in Dundee where a single person discount is currently applied. The split between benefit and non-benefit households is approximately half and half.