COUNCIL bosses are warning they will catch up with tax dodgers.
Stratford District Council is responsible for collecting council tax on behalf of all the public services in the district.
The authority usually gets somewhere in the region of 99 per cent of what is owed to them with figures for 2014/15 currently at 98.6 per cent.
But they maintain there are still some people who fail to cough up and it is those, they say, who could face bankruptcy proceedings.
The authority took action against a couple from Studley who owed them nearly £9,000 for three properties last year.
A bankruptcy order was made, but straight after the hearing the couple paid the outstanding council tax in full as well as the costs incurred by the bankruptcy action.
The council insist they will work with people who are struggling but if outstanding debts persist, they will take the relevant recovery action, which in some cases, will include bankruptcy proceedings.
Housing spokesman, Coun Maurice Howse, said: “It is the district council’s responsibility to collect council tax and we work hard to ensure our collection rates are as high as possible and everyone pays what is due.
“We are aware people can fall behind with payments and are therefore anxious to offer help to spread payments.
“Where there are outstanding debts however, we will seek to recover them in line with our recovery policy.
“Stratford District Council needs to ensure it is sympathetic towards, and works with those who are sincerely struggling to pay high bills, but at the same time we must crack down on the hard core of residents who are refusing to pay year on year, as that is unacceptable.”
