FINANCE chiefs have asked residents to remain patient over the introduction of a new council tax payment system as they seek to recover nearly £9 million worth of unpaid bills.
The county council is striving to introduce a unified system of collecting payments, following the massive restructuring process that brought the area's six previous local authorities together earlier this year.
The reorganisation has left offic
ials facing a major logistical exercise in merging several different council tax databases - totalling 140,000 accounts - into one updated system.
The authority is aiming to collect £145 million in council tax this year, while it is still owed £8.7 million that was outstanding from Northumberland's previous local government structure.
Council tax is due on the first day of each month, unless payment by direct debit has been agreed that means it can be collected on the 15th.
The policy represents a change from some of the previous district and borough councils.
The council warned this week that some residents who have paid their bills may have received letters or court summonses because of payments being made after the first day of each month and following previous practice.
It is also possible for payments to be incorrectly allocated to an account, or for a slight delay in credits being made.
A council spokesperson said: "Of the 140,000 accounts that the council handles, less than three per cent have received letters warning that money was due or summoning residents to court - and the majority of those were genuine cases where payment was due."
While it is expected to be several weeks before a new integrated system covering the previous authorities is in place, the council has stressed that nobody who has paid will be subject to recovery action.
Coun Andrew Tebbutt, Northumberland County Council's executive member for corporate resources, said: "The merger of these different systems has placed enormous pressure on our revenues and benefits section, but staff are working overtime during evenings and at weekends to implement the council's agreed collection policy and deal effectively with the inherited debt.
"A small minority of residents has received letters and, in the majority of these cases, payment was actually due. Of course, we apologise to those who may have been sent them in error.
"If these people contact our revenue and benefits service, such errors will be immediately addressed.
"However, people do have to pay their council tax in accordance with the rules.
"We are presently chasing nearly £9 million worth of unpaid debt and I am sure that residents would want us to do everything in our power to recover this money and invest it in quality services."
