MORE than £1.6million in council tax went uncollected in the Taunton and Wellington area in the 12 months to April - nearly double the amount left unpaid the previous year.
Officers at Taunton Deane Council - which collects the money for the county council, the police and itself - admit there was a problem, but say things are improving.
The amount of tax not making its way into the Deane House coffers rose to £1,601,000 - up from £838,000 in 2005-06.
The increased deficit of £763,000 is the second highest of all 45 South-West local authorities, according to the GMB public services union.
A Deane spokeswoman said the dip in collection rates from 98% to 96.37% was due to new computer software.
She added: "Training for staff to become familiar with the software and a period where no work could be done while date was migrated from the old in-house system delayed recovery action.
"But, with the equipment installed, significant progress has been made in addressing the issue."
*For more on this story, see Thursday's Somerset County Gazette.
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