Since October 1st, Logan City residents have had to start paying an interest level of 8.53% per annum on overdue rates, unless they are genuinely facing hardship and have access to an interest-free payment plan.
Logan City Mayor Darren Power said when the COVID-19 pandemic started to impact Australia, Council recognised that many people in the community would experience a sudden financial impact through lost or reduced income.
“In March, Council introduced an economic response package valued at $1.3 million,” he said.
“This included an interest-free period for all ratepayers until September 30, without any need to contact Council. We also stopped debt recovery operations for the same period.”
Rod Shaw, president of the Logan Ratepayers Association, said they have requested waiving of all rates payments for those able to provide evidence of financial distress brought on due to the pandemic.
“We are supposed to be all in this together but, this decision by the councillors, who haven’t missed a day’s pay during this period, want to exclude those in need in our community,” he said.
Mayor Darren Power said they know more than 75% of residents accessing hardship arrangements these last few months have already paid most or all of their accounts.
He also made clear that interest free payment plans actually are still available for those experiencing financial hardship.
“Essentially, we’ve shifted from a position where all of our ratepayers were automatically on interest-free arrangements to now asking those customers who are genuinely facing hardship to talk to us,” Mayor Power said.
“We still have interest-free payment plans available under our existing hardship policy.
“We’ve sent a letter to the remaining customers to alert them to the resumption of interest charges and inviting them to contact us if they still need assistance.
“Customers with existing payment plans will continue not to be charged interest.”
Features of the Council payment plans include:
Payment plans are generally offered interest-free, subject to the terms of the plan being met.
Payment plans are available to all customers, including vacant land and commercial properties.
Payment plans can be negotiated over the phone, and do not require an application process or other forms of documented proof.
