| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Pathetic leaflet from Hounslow Tories | |
| Posted by: | Theo Dennison | |
| Date/Time: | 18/09/12 00:51:00 |
| All local authorities, including Hounslow, carry forward debt from uncollected council tax and continue collection procedures including the use of court orders and bailiffs until such debts are deemed impossible or uneconomic to collect and written off. Hounslow is v conservative and does not write off debt early and when it has exhausted its own measures it sells on the debt to private collection companies in case they can do better. The whole process can take a number of years and so it should if we are to ensure any debt that is owed that can be reclaimed is recovered to support the running of the borough's services. Each year several millions of old council tax debt are collected and to ensure council tax debt does not adversely affect the borough in the meantime a 'collection rate' less than 100% is assumed in the budget. I don't recall the current collection rate exactly but it is now at an all time high (c98.5%). The old debt that is collected is used to offset one off corporate costs or bolster the general balances. The Council's finance team does a commendable job and has been nominated as national finance team of the year by the local governent chronicle in each of the last two (or more years). The Council's net debt has dropped from £159.9m to £97.5m in the last year having gone up under the last administration. [£97.5m is about 15% of the Council's total annual spend and falling - compared with national government debt in excess of 50% and rising]. |