Bin uplift bills are causing a real stink
Traders get pre Christmas shock over council demand
Stirling Council has apologised to businesses across the area after hitting them with a 12-month bill for waste collection – just days before Christmas.
Firms usually receive from the authority quarterly invoices for emptying bins.
But bills for this financial year were not sent out until midDecember.
And now companies are being asked to pay the charge, covering the 12 months from April 1, by early next month.
One angry businessman told the Observer he usually paid around £80 a quarter but added: “I have just received the four quarterly invoices for the whole 12 months of the 2017-18 financial year which means I have to find well over £300 over the next few days. It is ridiculous.”
Josie Day, of Stirling Art in Upper Craigs, Stirling, faces a similar headache.
She usually pays around £150 a quarter but has been sent invoices totalling £588 and has to pay the last one by January 15.
“My view is if I ran my business like this, I would not be in business,” added Josie who explained she had, in the next few weeks, also had to find £1100 for business rates, and £220 for the Business Improvement District levy which has just been introduced following the affirmative BID vote earlier this year.
“Everyone is working really hard in the run-up to Christmas and then you get hit with a bill like this one for refuse collection out of sheer incompetence,” commented Josie who has been in business for more than 30 years.
“It makes you angry because they have not taken into account any hardship that might be caused. All they have said is it must be paid.”
A Stirling Council spokesperson said, “We apologise for the delay in issuing the waste collection invoices. This was due to a problem with our processing systems that meant invoices could not be sent out for the first three quarters of 2017-18.
“This problem has now been resolved and so we are asking commercial customers to pay nine months of arrears and only three months in advance.
“If any commercial customer has a concern we would ask them to contact us directly to discuss payment options.”
Stirling Council Tory Group environment spokesperson Ross Oxburgh said : “These bills should not have been sent out just before Christmas. The council’s system was at fault but why did it take so long to sort that out ?
“Why were businesses affected by the error not contacted much earlier? Did no one give any consideration to the timing of this at all? I will be seeking answers to these questions and an agreement that all businesses are contacted to advise how their payments can be spread out.”