Imagine you’re the type of person who normally pays your town council charges, or Service & Conservancy Charges (S&CC) arrears, every two months.
And last reminders are part and parcel of life.
Then one day, as you’re sitting down to have breakfast, you came across this headline:
Woman Didn’t Pay Town Council Bills & Got Arrested
Wait, what?!
Now, before you panic, know the whole story first.
Social Activist Says Town Council Called The Cops On The Lady
Recently, a social activist shared a story about Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council on Facebook.
He claims that the lady had not paid her S&CC arrears and was arrested by the police.
His reasoning for sharing it online: the town council called the police on her.
With that, you know the town council has to respond.
And so, they did.
This Incident Was A Few Years Old
It actually happened back in 2016.
A woman in the Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council district did not pay her town council charges totally $2,150.
Unable to get into contact with her despite multiple tries, the town council decided to bring the matter to court.
She was told that she had to turn up to court for a hearing on the unpaid town council charges but she did not turn up.
And that was when the proverbial shit hits the fan.
Slapped With An Arrest Warrant
Now, you’re wondering, not paying bills only mah…
According to the States Court website, a Warrant of Arrest will be issued against anyone who didn’t turn up to court.
Even including nonpayment of fines.
Yes, and we can verify that because my boss had 18 warrants of arrest for not having enough money in his cashcard when going through ERP. #truestory.
Repeated Attempts To Reach Her After Issue of Warrant of Arrest
Despite having a warrant out for her, the police did not immediately mobilise 888 police officers to stomp her house.
That’s because she committed a non-criminal offence.
The town council continued trying to reach out to her, hoping to settle the matter and bring it out of the courts.
They were prepared to settle on an instalment plan for the lady to pay back her debt.
They even tried to look for her at her home but failed.
And Finally, One Year Later…
She was arrested on 14 Dec 2017.
After the lady was arrested, the people from the town council finally managed to meet her face to face.
And five days later, they managed to reach an agreement (read: instalment plan) and the lady got to go home.
Advertisements
They added that the agreement they came to allows the lady to gradually pay off her debt while keeping up with the current town council charges.
Will You Really Get Arrested For Not Paying Your S&CC Arrears?
One reason why most people will click in to this article is that they want to know, will you really get arrested for not paying town council bills?
The answer is, yes.
But only if you do it like this lady.
Usually, town councils will meet up with residents who had trouble paying and assess to see how they can come to a suitable agreement.
Advertisements
Since 2018, the new protocol is for the town councils to meet up and engage with the residents first. Going through criminal proceedings will be kept as a last resort.
