COUNCIL tax bills for thousands of residents are higher than they should be – because of a mix-up between two councils.
Householders in the area covered by Emersons Green Town Council, which includes some parts of Mangotsfield and Downend, saw the amount of money they pay to the council rise by 40.9% in April.
For a householder in an average Band D home, this represented an increase of £34.21 in the amount paid to the town council and collected by South Gloucestershire Council through the council tax payment system, from £83.72 to £117.93.
But the town council should have only asked for an increase of 2.5%, and says an “administrative oversight” meant it initially asked to increase its precept from £584,600 to £816,102, instead of the intended £599,215.
The town council says it told South Gloucestershire officers about the mistake, but no one realised it had not been corrected until the Voice reported the official figures as part of our coverage of the budget process.
If bills had only risen by 2.5%, Band D taxpayers would have paid the town council £85.81 – £32.12 less than they have actually been charged.
The overpayment is higher for residents in council tax bands E to H, and lower for those in bands A to C.
The Voice was alerted to the issue by a reader who looked at the town council’s accounts and raised the “anomalies” with council chair James Hunt.
The resident said: “I’m speechless that something as big as this can be written off as an ‘administrative error’.”
The town council issued a statement to the Voice, which said: “During the submission process, an administrative oversight led to the precept being recorded as £816,102 instead of the intended £599,215.
“The higher figure reflected the council’s initial projected expenditure, rather than the actual precept requirement.
“Although South Gloucestershire Council had been verbally advised of the correct figure, the discrepancy unfortunately went unnoticed by both councils until it was highlighted in the Voice’s March edition, where it reported on council tax changes.
“Emersons Green Town Council formally requested that South Gloucestershire Council amend the precept within the legal timeframe (by March 11).
“However, as South Gloucestershire Council had already finalised its budget and issued council tax and business rates bills, the request was declined.
“Making changes at that stage would have resulted in significant administrative costs – primarily due to the need to reissue billing documents – which would ultimately have been passed on to taxpayers.”
The town council said that, after consultations with South Gloucestershire’s corporate finance team, it had agreed to amend its precept to £816,102 for the 2025–26 financial year after a discussion at its meeting on March 20.
The council said: “Members recognised that, given the circumstances, the available options were limited.”
It says the surplus of £216,887 “will be placed in a securely ring-fenced and dedicated savings account”.
Once it has prepared its 2026/27 budget, the town council will use the saved money to reduce its precept request by £216,887, taking it off next year’s bills and leading to a “reduced or frozen” precept next year.