Council to stop ‘naming and shaming’ over rates

THE council will cease naming and shaming home-owners who fail to pay rates, despite claiming the right to do so.

Toowoomba Regional Council was castigated by the Queensland Ombudsman in December last year for shaming a home-owner with a “humiliating” sign.

An auction notice had been displayed on a Toowoomba home-owner's property informing the public they couldn’t pay their rates.

The home-owners were named which led to a complaint being lodged with the Queensland Ombudsman.

The report by Ombudsman Phil Clarke stated: “Many people would consider the inability to pay their bills, as and when they become due, to be a matter of shame and embarrassment.

“Many would be at a low point in their lives and more vulnerable than they would ordinarily be.”

He recommended councillors in Queensland cease to name home-owners who owed rates.

On Wednesday the councillors endorsed a report listed 71 properties of which there are allegedly rates and charges overdue by more than three years.

Under the previous rules when a notice of sale was advertised, the council would have named the owners. But this year the council will not do so, with Finance and Business Strategy general manager Arun Pratap saying the decision was because of “an abundance of caution”.

Mr Pratap said council lobby group Local Government Association of Queensland had written to the Ombudsman and responded to the report.

He described it as a “robust and pointed letter”.

“To paraphrase the letter that I have seen from the LGAQ, it was along the lines that the Ombudsman has stepped outside its jurisdiction... in making a comment or recommendation about matters in relation to the interpretation of the Local Government Act.”