Locals left shocked as Moreton Bay Regional Council glitch doubles rate payments

Moreton Bay residents have shared collective outrage after discovering their latest rates bill were double what it should have been due to an email bungle.

A Moreton Bay Council glitch has left ratepayers questioning if they’ve done something wrong after quarterly rates bills doubled.

Ratepayers living in the Moreton Bay say they were charged double this quarter in what council said was a ‘technological glitch’ after some emailed bills were not picked up by residents because they went to their junk mail.

One resident who did not wish to be named said they were ‘beyond shocked’ when they received their bill.

“The council team member made out it was my mistake not theirs,” they said.

“I asked why a reminder notice or late notice wasn’t sent. The team member said they had stopped sending those out to reduce stress on customers who had been hit hard by the floods.

“So now those people are being hit with late fees and interest because they didn’t know they had an outstanding bill.”

The ratepayer soon realised they had never been sent a rates notice in January, and they weren’t the only one.

Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

One local took to a local social media community group to express her outrage.

“Am I the only one who had a heart attack this morning after receiving the latest MBRC rates bill? Our rates have literally doubled from $500 a quarter to $1000,” she said.

“I know our property value has gone up along with the council’s rates but a 100% increase?”

Another person confirmed there was a glitch meaning the notice for the last rates bill was never sent.

It is understood council has waived the late fees and interest on a case-by-case basis, if ratepayers are willing to spend time on hold to then explain the situation.

“The team member waived the interest fee and extended my pay period for the missed payment,” they said.

“All of this could have been avoided or solved much earlier if they had sent out the reminder notice.

“We wouldn’t now need to find double the amount in a matter of weeks.”

A Moreton Bay Regional Council spokesman confirmed it was a technological glitch.

“Council is aware of a technical issue that has resulted in some ratepayers not receiving their Q4 rates notices from the 2021-22 financial year via email, meaning ratepayers are seeing an overdue balance on their Q1 rates notices for 2022-23,” he said.

“We apologise for the alarm this has caused for those residents and we are currently working through the process of waiving accrued interest charges that appear on these rates notices.

“As long as ratepayers pay the outstanding amount for both quarters by August 5, 2022, no interest charges will be incurred.

Moreton Bay Regional Council area.

“Council normally receives notifications when emails are undelivered and these are always followed up on, but in this instance we didn’t receive a notification, so we are working with our service provider to get to the bottom of the cause.

“We ask that ratepayers who do receive their rates notice via email to make sure they regularly check their ‘junk’ or ‘spam’ email folders to ensure their service provider has not incorrectly categorised the rates notice as junk.

“At the same time Council will continue to work with its service provider to ensure we do all that we can to avoid our email rates notices being incorrectly categorised as junk email by the various email service providers.

“If you are experiencing financial hardship as a result or for any other reason, you can apply to enter a repayment plan under Council’s hardship policy. if you require further information or assistance, you can call Council on [phone] or 1300 477 161.

“Once again, we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience that this has caused to residents during this time and we thank you for your patience.”