ALMOST £7 million in unpaid business rates have been racked up by city firms in the past three-and-a-half years, The Argus can exclusively reveal.

Businesses owe Brighton and Hove City Council more than £2.6 million in rates for the current financial year out of a total of more than £4.88 million which is in arrears since the start of 2013/14.

In addition the council has already written off more than £1.88 million in rates it concedes it will not be able to recover.

But the council has refused to name the worst offenders claiming it would not be in the public interest and could damage their reputation.

Councillors have now called for an investigation into whether the council should do more to recover owed rates following the abrupt closure of Jimmy’s World Kitchen in Brighton Marina with arrears of more than £200,000.

The Argus can reveal that the largest debt of all firms in a financial year was £109,000 in 2013/14 but the council is refusing to name the company for fear of prejudicing their commercial interests.

The council has had some success recouping owed rates totalling £2.4 million since 2013/14 with bailiffs used almost daily - 140 times since April and 1,320 times over the past three-and-a-half years.

Conservative group leader Geoffrey Theobald said the council needed to be “much more on the ball” with late or non-payment following the loss of more than £3.3 million from parking cash collection firm CoinCo in 2014.

He added: “I am amazed that this is not picked up by landlords in reference checks, particularly if firms have a history of non-payment.

“Unlike council tax, business rate arrears accrue very quickly, particularly on larger premises and as a council we need to be alive to that, particularly as in the next couple of years we will retain 100 per cent of the business rates we collect and rely upon it as one of our main sources of income.”

Councillor Ollie Sykes, Green finance spokesman, called for an audit investigation into Jimmy’s and other major business rates arrears.

He said: “At a time of shrinking council budgets, when rates are becoming an increasingly important source of revenue for councils, it is critical we get this right.

“In the interests of fairness, we should expect to pursue business rates arrears with just as much vigour as if a resident refused to pay their council tax.

“To do otherwise could lead to further cuts to services for the most vulnerable”.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said the authority had good tax collection rates of 96 per cent with late ratepayers issued with reminders within a week in some circumstances and issued court summons in a matter of weeks.

He added: "In the case of businesses, there is a fine balance to be struck between responsibly collecting debts, but also coming up with an arrangement that enables a business to ultimately succeed and therefore continue to pay rates and contribute to the local economy.

"For persistent non-payment and evasion, at the far end of enforcement we have some robust options that are legally available to the council – such as removal of goods, bankruptcy orders or even imprisonment."

DEBT WOULD FUND MANY LOST SERVICES

THE almost £7 million currently outstanding for lost business rates is no small fry when it comes to services.

The figure represents more than a third of the £18 million Brighton and Hove City Council will be forced to cut from its 2017/18 budget.

It is more than the total £6.2 million saved from the adult social care budget in the current year which was achieved in part by the emotive decisions to close Belgrave and Tower House day centres.

The figure is bigger than the £5 million in cuts from children’s services and dwarves the £850,000 saved by closing children’s centres.

Granted, the council may hope to recover more of the £2.6 million currently outstanding this financial year but the £1.88 million the council has already written off would have come in handy and trumps the £1 million it sought to gain by selling the Hove Library building.

The council currently collects more than £100 million in business rates from firms throughout the city although half of that is transferred to central Government.

The need for effective collection of business rates will be even greater in 2020 when councils will be able to retain all rates as part of an offer from central government who will withdraw the revenue support grant, worth £46 million in 2015/16.

It will mean business rate income will become the council’s greatest and most important source of income alongside council tax.