Council would like to correct an error in the Bayside Bulletin (12 February 2013 – “Direct debit option for your rates”).
The article states that “a full cost-recovery dishonour fee of $2.50 will be charged per direct debit…[and] ratepayers who do not have enough money in their account at the time a payment is scheduled [will] also be charged a $2.50 dishonour fee to cover bank charges incurred by council”.
There is only one $2.50 dishonour fee, not two, and this would simply be passed on by council to the ratepayer when there are insufficient funds in their account to make the payment they have scheduled. This is a bank charge, not a council charge.
Ordinarily, there is no extra fee for multiple payments – it will cost no more to pay your rates in 12 weekly instalments than it does to pay the quarterly bill in a lump sum.
