COUNCIL tax bills for Newton Abbot residents are almost £10 more than expected, it was revealed this week.

An ‘administrative mistake’ has meant that the benchmark Band D properties will be paying £81 instead of £71.97 – a difference of £9.03 per year or 75p extra per month.

But nobody is saying who is to blame for the error.

The mistake was announced in a joint statement from Teignbridge Council and Newton Abbot Town Council, issued by the district authority, after an emergency meeting between the two authorities on Monday.

And it stressed that the town council would set aside a pot to place the overspend in to reduce next year’s council tax bill. To rebel would have been too expensive, it was agreed.

A Teignbridge spokesman said ‘there was a discrepancy in how the precept information was worded and how the final figure was calculated.’ The spokesman said the council did not wish to add anything to the statement.

A town councillor said: ‘Teignbridge are blaming us and we are blaming Teignbridge. Nobody want to take the blame.’

The councillor was adamant that figures sent to Teignbridge were accurate.

Another town councillor, Cllr Mike Hocking said: ‘The information that we as a council passed on to Teignbridge was in our view clear and precise.

‘It was the way the figures were inserted into the software that works out the individual demand.’

Newton Abbot was the only area affected by the error.