One News reported last evening that a council mistake in calculating direct debits has landed more than 300 Tararua ratepayers with unexpected bills. One pensioner was reduced to tears when informed she was $4,000 in arrears. The council reported that the error was caused by a systems failure, where council’s rates rebate process was not lined up with the direct debit system.

Local Government Campaigns Manager for the Taxpayers' Union, Sam Warren, said “It was not a systems failure – it was a human failure. Humans design systems and these systems should be designed so that they operate without error.

“Clearly the system design was faulty – the fault of which lies with the humans who designed it. Was any testing of the system carried out? If so, it clearly wasn’t extensive enough and that is again, human failure.

“It is unacceptable for organisations to continually blame 'system failures' in a lazy attempt to absolve themselves from their own human errors. The correct course of action here is to refund those who have overpaid, absorb the loss from those who have underpaid and cut the salaries of those humans who made the error. The Taxpayers’ Union demands accountability – will Mayor Tracey Collis do the same?”

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