Finance chief unaware of huge council tax debt

GWYNEDD Council’s finance chief has admitted he was unaware of the authority’s £3.8m council tax black hole.

Councillor Peredur Jenkins was not aware of how much the council was owed in unpaid council tax, or that the authority had the worst rate for non-collection in north Wales.

Coun Jenkins, who has been lead member for finance for four years, said he would “have to take a look at the figures”.

Across the whole of north Wales local authorities were owed £19m up to April this year, an increase of £110,000 on 2015/16.

Conwy was the next worst performer, with £3.6m in arrears with them and Gwynedd having the joint lowest rate of collection (97.3%). Flintshire, with a £2.7m council tax black hole, had the best rate of collection at 98.1% – the joint highest in Wales.

However, Plaid Cymru’s Coun Jenkins, who has been Gwynedd cabinet’s finance man for four years, was unable to comment on his own administration’s poor performance.

He said: “I have got no information at the moment. I would have to look at the figures.”

When told they came direct from the Welsh Government and asked if he was aware of the amount of arrears in the county Cllr Jenkins said: “No I wasn’t”.

Conservative Sam Rowlands, the new lead member for finance within Conwy County Council, blamed the previous administration. Despite only being in the post for four days he said he believed years of high council tax demands had been a burden on some people.

Across Wales the council tax collection rate was 97.4%,, 0.25 up on last year and the best eve performance overall.

A spokesman for Gwynedd Council said: “We actively pursue unpaid council tax. Based on arrears figures from previous years we anticipate that of the £3.7m outstanding on 31 March 2017 at least 40% will be collected during 2017/18.”