Braintree: Council earned £118 interest from tax blunder (From Braintree and Witham Times)
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Braintree: Council earned £118 interest from tax blunder
3:30pm Tuesday 11th September 2012 in News
Braintree: Council earned £118 interest from tax blunder
Braintree Council made £118 in interest after taking more than £7.7million from tax payers accounts four days early.
More than 38,000 residents and 1,700 businesses were affected by the error which meant council tax direct debit instalments were taken on August 30 instead of September 3.
The council took £5.4m in council tax and £2.3 in business rates.
Bosses at Braintree Council have apologised for the mistake which they say was caused by human error.
They have pledged to pay any overdraft fees incurred by residents as a direct result of the blunder and say the £118 earned in interest will go towards the pay outs.
Councillor David Bebb, council member for performance and efficiency said the council was still counting the cost of the blunder.
To read full story, see this week's Times.
Comments are closed on this article.
Comments (2)
3:55pm Tue 11 Sep 12
Parker1HL says...
The fact BDC made an error costing £7.7million, or the fact they only earned £118 quid from it!
12:23pm Fri 14 Sep 12
Jodaius says...
I don't understand why such a big deal is being made out of this - it was a one-off human error which the council sought to rectify as soon as possible. They have also agreed to compensate anyone left out of pocket. What more do people want?