Hundreds of businesses issued incorrect sewer charges by Tamworth Regional Council over 2021-2022 financial year

An audit of sewer charging on all 2600 non-residential properties revealed 303 were dealt incorrect sewer charges by Tamworth Regional Council (TRC), with 245 undercharged and 58 forced to fork out too much money.

A report to council shows businesses were overcharged a total of $77,291 and undercharged $393,065, with amounts ranging from less than $500 to $20,000.

TRC's director of water and waste Bruce Logan said affected businesses had not yet been notified, and a decision will be made at Tuesday night's council meeting on how to proceed.

"We will either write off their charges for the current financial year, or explore another method," he said.

"The options that council could consider are for those that have been undercharged, we could phase in the increases in charges, or we could apply those charges from July 1.

"For those that have been overcharged, we could refund them some money, or we could say 'no, we're not going to refund you any money, your new charges will be levied on July 1'."

TRC's manager of water and environmental operations Daniel Coe said in the report that the main reason for the incorrect fees was the wrong Sewer Discharge Factor - used to estimate the volume of sewage - being applied to the property.

However, Mr Logan said in some cases, properties had been overcharged for having the incorrect meter size, which had an adverse affect on their bills.

The audit was sparked after Baiada wrote to council in 2020 requesting a variation to its Sewage Discharge Factor at its Oakburn rendering plant.

"We did have a business approach us about doing a review... and we're also going to be introducing automatic meter reading in the current financial year," Mr Logan said.

"That led us to look at what our meter sizes are on all of our businesses. So we decided to do a complete audit."

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With the pandemic heavily impacting the bottom line over the past two years, Tamworth Business Chamber president Stephanie Cameron said many businesses had used up their cash reserves to stay afloat, and any unexpected costs were "disheartening".

"It seems like things are just starting to get back on track," she said.

"The economy is getting going again and to have something come left of field - it just must be hard getting knocked all the time."

However, Ms Cameron welcomed the audit and the potential for the money to be put back into the pocket of businesses.

"But, while it's pretty annoying to be overcharged and have to find that extra money in a tight time, at least that mistake has been admitted," she said.

"On one hand I'm frustrated, but on the other I'm pleased to see it potentially being returned and acknowledged."

Mr Logan said the onus was on individual business owners to check their charges, and said they could come to council if they believed something was wrong.

"What I'd say to business owners is that you need to check what you're doing - check your bills and query them if you're not happy - for water, wastewater, rates, anything - let us know and we'll have a look at them," he said.

"Certainly in wastewater charging, you are involved and you have a part to play in keeping us aware of what you're doing in your business, so that we are accurately representing what the business is doing and that's represented in your wastewater charges."

Tamworth mayor Russell Webb said while the audit showed some issues, it also found that 2299 property owners were correctly charged and of the 58 overcharged, 43 were less than $500.

"We are going to consider this on Tuesday night, and the council will take a position on how they're going to take this forward," he said.

The meeting on Tuesday will be held in the Nemingha Room, in the Lands Building on Fitzroy Street, due to issues with the heating at Ray Walsh House.

Businesses will be advised of the audit outcomes and the impacts on their charges after the meeting.

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