SCOTTISH Borders Council is continuing to recover Council Tax arrears of around £12m, racked up over the last two decades.

But the local authority has insisted this week that it has one of the best records in Scotland for collecting the property-based levy.

It was responding to a call by John Lamont, the Conservative MSP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, for council officials to “do all they can” to recover the unpaid cash.

Mr Lamont, who will challenge Lib Dem MP Michael Moore in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk at May’s General Election, claimed SBC was currently owed £31m in unpaid Council Tax.

While conceding the bulk of these arrears related to the current financial year (2014/15) which still has three months to run, he said that “around £12m remains outstanding from previous years”.

“Councils need to get better at enforcing Council Tax charges,” said Mr Lamont whose party has been in opposition at Newtown since 2012.

“It is grossly unfair on those of us who play by the rules and pay our taxes every year that millions of pounds remain unpaid.

“If collected, as it should be, that money could be put to good use protecting frontline public services.

“Given that Scottish Borders Council is facing financial pressure at the moment, I would have thought officials would be doing all they can to collect as much council tax as they can.” Although not disputing Mr Lamont’s figures, an SBC spokesperson stated: “As is the case with local authorities across the country, SBC has Council Tax arrears outstanding for years prior to 2014/15.

“The level of these arrears will continually reduce as the council pursues them using a variety of methods at its disposal. There are, for example, already a number of instalment agreements in force reducing outstanding individual arrears. As arrears payments are made, they contribute to the council budget.

“SBC’s recovery rate for Council Tax remains at a high level. In 2013/14 it was 96.6%, equal sixth best out of 32 councils in Scotland.

“Over the last five years, we have demonstrated the ninth best performance out of local authorities for the percentage of Council Tax recovered, while in terms of our cost per chargeable dwelling, at £6.73 we were actually the third cheapest in Scotland.” Meanwhile, Mr Lamont has also criticised the Scottish Government for its announcement that it is to legislate for historical poll tax debts – incurred between 1989 and 1993 - to be written off. He claimed SBC was still owed £2.3m from non-payers. “This is incorrect,” said the council spokesperson, citing the decision of SBC’s executive in October 2012 to write-off outstanding Community Charge arrears of £147,000 because recovery was considered “uneconomic”.

Council Tax is due to bring in £51,47m to SBC coffers in 2015/16, rising to £53.37m because of new housing by 2019/20. This represents about 20% of total revenue spending which will top £252m next year.

The bulk of the balance comes from a grant from the Scottish Government and SBC’s £34.84m share of non-domestic (business) rates.

Since 2007/08 Council Tax has been frozen at £1,084 for a Band D property.