The community is owed unpaid rates and charges, Tamworth Regional Council mayor Russell Webb said

The decision to line properties up on the chopping block by Tamworth Regional Council is actually a lifeline for ratepayers, mayor Russell Webb said.

He said the process encourages people to cover their unpaid rates and charges.

"It actually just gets people moving a bit more quickly to do something about paying those unpaid rates," he said.

"But we've got to understand, this isn't council money, this is community money.

"We have to take some action to recoup those funds that are owed to the council, and they're really owed to the community."

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The mayor expects about half of the ratepayers in question to organise a payment plan with council once they realise they will lose their property otherwise.

For the first time since 2018, the council will bring the hammer down to recover $706,779.32 in unpaid rates and charges.

The Office of Local Government called off debt recovery processes to provide relief while COVID disrupted lives and livelihoods.

But unpaid rates have been piling up ever since.

"There's been a whole lot of reasons why we haven't actually stepped up to the plate on this," the mayor said.

"The reason being we've gone through those pandemic periods, we've gone through the drought.

"We've thought about those people in the community that would have been feeling the pinch in those situations, so that's why it's been left until now."

Cr Webb said any outstanding money from sales that go ahead will go back to those that own the land.

"If we sold your property to get the rates owed, we'd give you the rest of the money," he said.

"It's not something we want to do but it's something that every council in NSW does, they have to do it.

"It's community money we're talking about, so we do have to do something, we can't just let it sit there."

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