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13/02/2008
Rates' Debt Grows
A rising tide of unpaid rates' debt on homes and business premises has led to some 17,500 summonses being issued by the Magistrates Courts and some 500 bankruptcy and liquidation cases being considered in relation to the debt.
The NI total topped £88 million last year, though, as part of the normal recovery process 32,577 instalment payment reminders and 84,871 final-payment notices have also been sent out to domestic and non-domestic ratepayers.
The statistics have been released by the Department of Finance and Personnel which has confirmed the ongoing problem in response to an Assembly question put to Finance Minister Peter Robinson by SDLP MLA Declan O'Loan.
He asked him to detail the amount of rate debt owed to the Land and Property Services each year over the past five years.
According to figures for 2006-7, rate arrears amounted to £88.3 million in comparison to £48.7 million the previous year.
The amount of rate debt owed in 2002-3, however, amounted to just £22 million - underlining the huge increase since.
A spokeswoman for the department said part of the reason for the substantial rate debt last year was due to "well-documented problems" with the department's computer system.
She also said that rate arrears are carried over from one year to the next as from April 1.
"Land and Property Services implemented a new revenue collection computer system in October 2006 and experienced some technical difficulties," she said.
"To ensure the issue of domestic rate bills for 2007-8 based on capital values a decision was taken to set aside legal recovery action during 2006-7.
"Legal recovery action started in September 2007 following some further delay with the development of the necessary system functionality."
Mr O'Loan said he believed the introduction of the new rating system had contributed to the £88 million debt accrued in 2006-7.
However, it was also noted that - last year - just £1.3 million of rating debt was written off which was just 1.4% of the total debt accrued, while in 2003-4 £2 million of the debt was written off amounting to 8.1% of the total debt owed.
(BMcC)
The NI total topped £88 million last year, though, as part of the normal recovery process 32,577 instalment payment reminders and 84,871 final-payment notices have also been sent out to domestic and non-domestic ratepayers.
The statistics have been released by the Department of Finance and Personnel which has confirmed the ongoing problem in response to an Assembly question put to Finance Minister Peter Robinson by SDLP MLA Declan O'Loan.
He asked him to detail the amount of rate debt owed to the Land and Property Services each year over the past five years.
According to figures for 2006-7, rate arrears amounted to £88.3 million in comparison to £48.7 million the previous year.
The amount of rate debt owed in 2002-3, however, amounted to just £22 million - underlining the huge increase since.
A spokeswoman for the department said part of the reason for the substantial rate debt last year was due to "well-documented problems" with the department's computer system.
She also said that rate arrears are carried over from one year to the next as from April 1.
"Land and Property Services implemented a new revenue collection computer system in October 2006 and experienced some technical difficulties," she said.
"To ensure the issue of domestic rate bills for 2007-8 based on capital values a decision was taken to set aside legal recovery action during 2006-7.
"Legal recovery action started in September 2007 following some further delay with the development of the necessary system functionality."
Mr O'Loan said he believed the introduction of the new rating system had contributed to the £88 million debt accrued in 2006-7.
However, it was also noted that - last year - just £1.3 million of rating debt was written off which was just 1.4% of the total debt accrued, while in 2003-4 £2 million of the debt was written off amounting to 8.1% of the total debt owed.
(BMcC)
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Northern Ireland WeatherToday:A sunny but frosty start for many. However cloud increases by midday with a few showers reaching the north coast, these mostly light but spreading inland this afternoon. Chilly. Maximum temperature 8 °C.Tonight:A rather cloudy evening with scattered showers. Becoming drier through the night with some good clear spells developing and a patchy frost away from coasts. Minimum temperature 0 °C.
