By Victoria Stone-Meadows
City of Casey Council will be forced to apologise to about 200 residents who have been charged twice for their pet registration.
Casey Council issued pet registration renewal noticed to about 35,000 pet owners across the municipality in April, but issued the same notice to about 200 people who had already paid.
Berwick resident Lou Stanislawski was one of the 200 people to receive a renewal notice for pet registration he had already paid.
He said he contacted council about the error as he knew he had paid registration for his ex-racing greyhound, Wazza, when he adopted him earlier this year.
“I suggested that council might want to contact all the recipients of the letters that were sent in error,” he said.
“The response to this suggestion was not enthusiastic.”
Mr Stanislawski feared others in the community may not be as up to date with their paperwork and may have paid the registration twice.
He said the council was unapologetic in admitting they had made a mistake, and wanted to warn others in the municipality who may have received an erroneous notice.
“I commented that I was able to sort the issue out, but that there might be other people who were less able to deal with such a notice,” he said.
“I suggested the elderly or disabled people who might panic when receiving such a notice and make a payment of $50 when there was no need to.
“Again, the response was less than enthusiastic or sympathetic.”
Casey Council refused to say how many people, if anyone, had overpaid or double-paid their pet registration.
“If a resident has paid for their pet registration twice or overpaid the required fee, City of Casey Council will reimburse them for their overpayment,” council’s manager of local laws Caroline Bell said.
