Whilst the total council tax bills remained unchanged, legislation required the council to write to households explaining the embarrassing blunder.
Council tax bills had to be reprinted due to a typo. (Image: Getty)
A UK council has sparked fury after racking up a shocking £200,000 in costs for reprinting council tax bills due to a minor typo.Bristol City Council sent out 239,143 letters last month to correct a “typographical error” on this year’s council tax bills – despite the mistake having absolutely no impact on the amounts households are required to pay. Council tax payments include small precepts for the Avon Fire Authority, and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset.
This year, these precepts increased by 5% for the commissioner and 5.9% for the fire authority, but the council mistakenly printed the figures the wrong way around. Whilst the total council tax bills remained unchanged, legislation required the council to write to households explaining the embarrassing blunder. The cost of printing and posting these letters reached a staggering £198,000.
Bristol City Council has come under fire for the costly move. (Image: Getty)
Labour Councillor Don Alexander and Liberal Democrat Cllr Nicholas Coombes sought further information during a member forum meeting last Tuesday (November), with written responses provided to both.
In response, a council spokesperson said: “All households that had received a council tax bill during the current financial year received the letter of clarification. The cost of print and postage for the letters was £198k.”
The move received fierce backlash, with Bristol Live readers expressing their frustration at the bill, covered by the taxpayer.
One reader wrote: “£200,000 to correct a tiny typo? I doubt anyone even noticed the thing anyway. This council sure likes wasting our tax money.”
Another commented: “Public sector incompetence at its best. Any heads rolling? No chance!”
A third chimed in: “We may have booted out Labour due to their incompetence, but the equally culpable public sector civil servants are still there.”
One more questioned: “Does this cost cover the fact that they sent out duplicates of the corrective notice? What penalty would have been imposed if BCC had decided not to send a correction?”
