Bendigo sicked debt collectors on too many people: council officers

Council officers sicked debt collectors on 88 per cent more people in 2024 than at the same time last year in a bid to claw back $4.3 million in late payments.

They have pitched a plan to ease that problem after a 33 per cent spike in the number of final payment notices sent out in March chasing a total $15.6 million.

The spike has come hand-in-hand with more people asking for payment plans "citing varying degrees of financial stress around current costs of living, increased mortgage interest rates and personal and/or business cash flow", council officers said in a new report.

They want councillors to sign off on a potential solution during a meeting on Monday.

The idea would be to scrap an option 16,000 ratepayers currently use to pay their rates: paying in full in February.

Council officers want to avoid a repeat of what happened this year, when they had to fielded a large increase in calls from people pleading for help after the February payment deadline became too much.

They want more people to either pay rates bills quarterly or take up a discount by getting in before September 30.

That could help ease the hip-pocket hit one in four Bendigo ratepayers get in February and help them deal with looming financial problems faster, the council officers said.

They warned, however, that there could be drawbacks if the council removed an option one in four Bendigo ratepayers currently use.

People could think the council was simply trying to get paid faster, or find the change inconvenient, council officers said.

It could also force the council to pay another $30,000 each year issuing more frequent rates notices, but the officers believed that cost would be offset by its internal call centre having a more even call load for help over 12 months.

Councillors are being asked to weigh in as ratepayers brace for rates to rise.

Bills will go up on average 2.75 per cent from July but could be much higher for some in Bendigo areas depending on how much their land was valued.

Bendigo's council would not be the first central Victorian council to scrap options for people to pay in full in February.

Castlemaine's Mount Alexander Shire and Kyneton's Mount Macedon Shire have already made the shift.

Correction: An earlier version reported that the 2024-25 rate rise would be the largest since 2016, when it was 2.5 per cent. This is incorrect. The largest rise since 2016 was in the 2023-24 financial year, when it was 3.5 per cent.