MORE than £1.5 million of debt has been written off by Darlington Borough Council - weeks after councillors voted in favour of multi-million pound budget cuts.

The announcement was made at the council’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday (July 12), where it was decided to write off more than £1.25m of unpaid non-domestic rates and council tax, as well as more than £100,000 of both housing benefit overpayments and former housing tenant arrears.

The £1.25m is made up of 223 cases of unpaid non-domestic rates totalling £780,075 and 675 cases of unpaid council tax costing £484,996.

A report presented before cabinet also said there were 80 cases of overpaid housing benefit exceeding £500 in the last financial year, totalling £101,381, and 94 cases of housing tenant arrears costing £134,030.

This decision comes after councillors agreed last month to vote through £12.5 million worth of cuts to services in the borough, and the council is also forecast to overspend by £1.5 million next year.

The report said: “The recommendation is supported as regular arrangements for writing off debts are in accordance with best practice for good financial management.”

Steven Harker, deputy leader of the council who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, said: “Although it is a large sum of money, it is a small percentage of the annual debit.”

The unpaid council tax non-domestic rates represents one and a half percent of the £83.4m raised for the 2015/16 financial year.

Cllr Harker also claimed some of the reasons behind the unrecovered council tax were due to the difficulty in collecting small amounts of council tax and collecting from a person who is now deceased.

The council also confirmed that those who fail to repay the necessary amount of housing benefit will be recorded and could be prevented from claiming future benefits.

Veronica Copeland, cabinet member for adult social care and housing, said: “We never forget a debt.”

Harry Davis, campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the council has a duty to make sure everyone pays their fair share of council tax and must learn the lessons of their mistakes.

“When councils are tightening their belts, they really cannot afford not to collect huge amounts of money they are owed.

“Of course there will be those who struggle to make ends meet but councils have to differentiate between taxpayers who simply can’t afford to pay their bills and those who simply refuse.”