Information relating to ratepayers' paying of rates in the Queenstown Lakes district included in the council's organisational review report is misleading, the council's finance general manager says.
Last week the Mountain Scene reported 37% of ratepayers paid by direct debit or automatic payment and 3% paid online via credit card, leaving the remainder - about 13,000 ratepayers - paying by cash or cheque in person, by mailing a cheque or by internet or telephone banking.
However, Stewart Burns told the finance and corporate committee at its meeting in Queenstown on Tuesday he ''took some issue with a couple of comments'' made in relation to rates revenue and arrears.
A suggestion the council had a ''high percentage of arrears'' was inaccurate, he said.
As it stands, the council has received $46,762,774, or 97%, of the third rates instalment, which was due on February 22, with $1,376,200, or 3%, still outstanding.
The total arrears at July 1 were $2,294,355, which had, in the nine months to March 31, reduced to $620,436.
''There are plenty of councils that have a higher percentage [in arrears] than we have. For the relatively small team that we have, we do a good job.
''We've got effective ways of collecting our rates. It's not an area that there's a problem in.''
A total of 44% of ratepayers paid via direct debit and, of the remaining 56%, 40% paid by direct credit, either through automatic payments, telephone banking or internet banking, Mr Burns said.
The number of people paying with cash was ''practically zero'', and 16% paid either by cheque or eftpos.
''When you compare us to other councils, we're actually very high in terms of electronic take-up.
''I talked to the bank and I said 'Can we do better than this?'
''They suggested we're at the upper limits of where we can expect to be.''
There was only one other council in New Zealand with a higher uptake in terms of electronic payments and that was the Kapiti District Council, which boasted about 46% of ratepayers using direct debit, who were encouraged by a ''cash draw'' incentive of about $250 each quarter.
