Pay up or pay extra

By Melissa Meehan
CARDINIA Shire residents be warned … pay your rates on time or suffer the consequences.
A number of residents contacted the Mail last week to complain about being charged interest for not paying their rates on time, despite not receiving a reminder notice.
But the Cardinia Shire Council says final instalment notices were sent and they had the Australia Post records to prove it.
Resident Barb Spencer said she had an idea rates were due soon, but did nothing because she hadn’t received an instalment notice.
“You have an idea when it’s due,” she said.
“But they have always sent a reminder.”
Ms Spencer said she received a notice from the Bass Coast Council about her Phillip Island property, but forgot about the Cardinia rates until this week when she contacted the shire.
“I rang the shire and they told me I had to pay interest because I didn’t pay the rates by the due date,” she said. “And they said the final instalment notice was only a courtesy reminder and they didn’t have to send one out.”
Ms Spencer rang other people in the area, to find they also had not received the reminder notice.
“I think they (the shire) may have got a couple more calls after that,” she said.
“But I don’t think it’s fair we are getting charged interest when a reminder notice, like they have sent out for the past five years, wasn’t sent.
“It is the principle of the whole thing.”
Cardinia Shire’s Rates and Valuations manager Russell Hodges said final rates instalment notices were sent on 14 May and payments were due on or before 31 May.
“Interest at 10 per cent was charged for non payment of instalments from 8 June to 30 June on the amount outstanding,” Mr Hodges said.
“The council has not issued an overdue notice for instalment payers – without looking at specific examples it is difficult for us to comment on what the ratepayers are referring to.”
He said the council was happy to work with residents to develop individual payment programs to help people having difficulty paying rates and encouraged them to contact council as soon as they receive a notice.
Ms Spencer paid her rates last week, but not the interest.