Gympie’s unpaid rates level drops to 5.9%

While the number of unpaid rates bills has been slashed dramatically, hundreds of Gympie region residents will soon be hearing from debt collectors

The number of Gympie ratepayers owing money to the council has dropped from 9.4 per cent to 5.9 per cent in the past year.

Gympie’s longstanding issue of unpaid rates has taken a startling turn with the percentage of outstanding bills hitting its lowest point in at least five years.

Figures from Gympie Regional Council reveal only 5.92 per cent of rates bills issued across the region remain unpaid, almost four percentage points higher than was recorded at the same time last year.

It is significant change in what has been a continuous thorn in the council’s side; the percentage of unpaid rates sat between 8-10 per cent in the five years from 2016-2020

Council communications manager Sharna Rowley said the drop was due to a “targeted and consistent effort to remedy some of our debt management processes such as including more flexible payment options”.

It is the lowest level of outstanding rates bills owed to the council in at least five years.

“Many residents took this opportunity to pay outstanding rates balances,” Mrs Rowley said.

There are still 2290 outstanding bills to be paid off, according to the report being presented to councillors at Wednesday’s meeting.

One quarter of these (578) are on long-term payment plans and 331 more are on short term payment plans.

There is also $50 or less owed on 305 outstanding bills.

However there still remains 420 bills where the owner has no payment plan in place; another 406 have been referred to debt collection agencies.

Originally published as Gympie’s unpaid rates level drops to 5.9%