Possibly thousands of Amstelveen households recently received an unjustified municipal writ because they had not paid a municipal tax. The municipality acknowledges the error and investigates what went wrong.
Pending that investigation, Amstelveen has informed all households that they can regard the writ as not being sent.
The ball started rolling when the emergency service suddenly received ‘a lot’ of questions about the writ of execution, party chairman Patrick Adriaans tells NH. “Then we thought: because there are so many, something is wrong.”
That suspicion is correct, the municipality said today. Some of the households should never have received the writ, because they have paid this year’s municipal tax properly.
4,300 subpoenas issued
It is not yet known how many households have wrongly received the writ of execution. However, spokesman Tim Bakker on behalf of Alderman Adam Elzakalai (Finance) said that a total of 4,300 writs of execution had been sent. “That’s more than normal,” he admits.
The spokesperson cannot say today how many justified subpoenas have been sent in recent years. It is also not known which tax(es) (woz, waste levy) is involved. Residents who have correctly received the writ of execution are asked to wait for a final message from the municipality.
Energy crisis
The fact that despite the higher number did not ring a bell with the municipality is because the expenses of many households have risen sharply in the past year. “Partly due to the energy crisis,” says Bakker.
In a message on its website let the municipality know that it regrets the course of events and apologizes. Measures are being taken to prevent such errors in the future.