By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Greater Dandenong has offered more than 150 rates waivers for ratepayers in financial difficulty during the pandemic-hit 2020-‘21.
In the past three years, the council partially waived 227 rates bills at an escalating rate.
In a sign of rising levels of distress, council waivers are only reserved for “extreme circumstances” under the council’s hardship policy.
Generally the waivers don’t exceed $500 each.
In 2018-’19, 22 ratepayers were waived a total of $8394. This rose to 54 waivers of a total $18,807 the following year.
In the current financial year, the council assisted 151 ratepayers with a total $32,850 of waivers.
On top of the general waivers, Greater Dandenong also offered Covid-19 rebates to nearly 11,700 ratepayers at a cost of $196,400.
This comprised of $100 reductions to 10,713 pensioner ratepayers and $200 waivers to 982 ratepayers.
A recent State Ombudsman’s report into local councils’ hardship policies found a great disparity between “generous” councils and “punitive” ones.
Some were described as “too quick to sue” without exploring alternatives, the report stated.
Of 13 surveyed councils, Greater Dandenong was one of two councils that offered waivers “in any substantial way”.
Nine councils didn’t offer any waivers in 2018-’19 and 2019-’20.
The Ombudsman had previously raised concerns with some councils’ “blanket” refusal to grant waivers.
Some charged interest when they did offer hardship relief, such as payment plans or deferrals.
“The Ombudsman has seen cases where over time other councils have charged ratepayers hundreds or thousands of dollars.
“In some cases, the interest charges have built over time and now make up anywhere from a quarter to nearly 50 per cent of the ratepayer’s total debt.”
There were also concerns about “heavy-handed debt collection” by some councils.
Greater Dandenong uses debt collection agents and court actions to recover debt.
In 2018-’19 and 2019-’20, Greater Dandenong initiated 319 court actions.
“Council makes every effort to contact ratepayers before any debt recovery action occurs,” its corporate services director Mick Jaensch said.
“This includes multiple reminder letters and a letter from the debt agency prior to any action being taken.”
Mr Jaensch said the council had “many payment arrangements” with residents to give them “flexibility” to pay when they could.
The Ombudsman report noted that Greater Dandenong was among several councils to refer residents to financial counselling.
