A political storm erupted prior to Cambridgeshire County Council apologising today for a council tax bloomer.
The council issued a statement apologising “for a mistake made in information it has sent to district and city councils about its council tax precepts for 2023-24”.
Tom Kelly, the service director for finance and procurement, said: “A genuine human error led to the percentages notified to district and city councils for general council tax of 2.99% and that for the adult social care precept of 2% being reversed,”.
He said that although these two parts of the county council’s tax are required by law to be shown separately on bills, the amount households pay is calculated by combining them both.
No one will be charged incorrect amount
Mr Kelly confirmed that no council taxpayer will be charged the incorrect amount.
And that no additional action will be needed by individuals or households.
But Cllr Steve Count, the former council leader and now leader of the Conservatives opposition, claims in his blog that taxpayers pay “for Lib Dem led county council mistakes”.
His blog, published yesterday, said: “I’ve yet to see a press release and an apology.
“Which is the least the public should expect as we reveal Cambridgeshire County Council (currently under Lib Dem, Labour & Independent control) have made an error by providing the district councils with the wrong council tax figures.
The comments still there
Even Steve's own mates are distancing themselves from his poor decisions in March….
Hope he listens pic.twitter.com/oLSPWtMHSQ
— Honey Badger King (@centralsimon) March 2, 2023
“This means that all the council tax bills the district councils have printed are wrong.
“District councils now face countless hours of extra work and thousands of pounds of taxpayers money to be spent correcting the error.
“It is yet unknown just exactly how much this disaster will cost but will be in the tens of thousands of pounds.”
He also included a quote from Cllr Heather Williams, Conservative opposition leader at South Cambs District Council.
“She says ‘what a waste of taxpayers’ money this has caused along with the massive amounts of paper and envelopes wasted.
‘This was completely avoidable, and a full review should be made to make sure this does not happen again as the cost will be huge.
“It will also mean that some residents will have to wait to find out their council tax bills giving them less time to plan and prepare, this is completely irresponsible’”.
But Cllr Stephen Ferguson, who is also chair of the county council, hit back.
https://twitter.com/borofergie/status/1620492186658955264
“It’s a fundamental misrepresentation of the role of elected members in a council administration,” he tweeted.
“And from man whose special move was ‘turning a blind eye’ when he was in control. Which is why he isn’t anymore.”
In a later tweet, Cllr Count wrote: “Chairman of Cambridgeshire County Council blaming his officers for error.
“Poor leadership at the helm, lack of responsibility continues
Tom Kelly, finance and procurement director, said: “As soon as we spotted the mistake, we let the billing authorities and our elected members know”.
The county council says the billing authorities, some of Cambridgeshire’s five district or city councils have already started to print their council tax bills, which are due to arrive with households in the coming weeks, but others haven’t
Remedial action
All households will receive information with their council tax bill showing the correct breakdown – and the county council says it is working with district and city councils on any remedial action needed.
It will be a few weeks before any costs of this action will be known.
Mr Kelly said: “As soon as we spotted the mistake, we let the billing authorities and our elected members know.
“I am extremely sorry that this has occurred, and we are fully reviewing our internal controls to prevent this happening again.”
