Residents spared after City admits to retirement village billing error

Residents of Azalea Retirement Village are breathing a sigh of relief after Msunduzi Municipality moved to reverse a refuse-removal bill of more than R179 000 that had threatened to place a heavy financial burden on elderly residents. The municipality’s financial services portfolio committee, through the executive committee, on Thursday sought council approval to reverse the back-billing charges amounting to R179 259. According to a report written by the City’s chief executive officer, Nelisiwe Ngcobo, the committee found that the retirement village had been incorrectly billed following the migration to a new system in 2017.

“Historical records indicate that before 2017, the account was billed correctly for 58 refuse bins. Following the migration in 2017, the account was inadvertently billed for only one refuse bin despite refuse-removal services for all 58 bins continuing to be rendered,” reads the report. The municipality acknowledged that the problem was caused by a system-configuration error and not by any wrongdoing on the part of the retirement village or its residents.

The municipality also recommended that an audit be conducted into the billing of all similar facilities and that a policy framework be developed to guide the billing of such facilities in future. “This is a huge relief because the facility is an old-age home where residents rely primarily on government grants and are experiencing financial hardship. “Azalea would not have been able to continue operating if we had to cover that amount. This is indeed a huge relief,” said Hess.