A staggering 26,225 summonses were issued to Kirklees residents for non-payment of council tax in a single year.
And Kirklees Council had to go to magistrates to obtain 24,188 Liability Orders for non-payment of council tax.
A Liability Order is a legal demand for payment and it means people with council tax arrears may have to pay legal costs.
The figures are for the year 2015/16 – the last full year of data the council has.
It totalled £7.5m in outstanding council tax, although the council said around £4m is outstanding due to money recovered over time.
A Kirklees spokeswoman said the number of summonses issued was falling year on year and added: “Over the past three years the number of summonses issued has fallen by nearly 30%.
“We believe steps we have taken to reduce the numbers of summons each year has directly contributed to this fall.
“We promote that customers should pay by direct debit meaning they don’t forget to make payments and fall behind.
“We ensure our workloads are up to date meaning that any changes in bills are sent to residents as quickly as possible, and we have made it easier for residents to let us know about their changes in circumstances as quickly as possible, either via 24 hour available internet, or through a self-serve counter at our customer services offices.”
The 26,225 figure does not represent a single household, as some may have received more than one summons.
But with 184,877 banded properties it illustrates the difficulty many have in paying council tax bills.
The spokeswoman explained how people not paying up impacted on the council and wider community and said: “Non-payment of council tax affects the council’s budgets and cash flow throughout the year.
“Although over the fullness of time the council collects 98.5% of the council tax due, there is a cost to the recovery of unpaid council tax and in carrying out enforcement action, although this expense is recouped from the person in the form of costs which are added to the account.
“This means that those who pay their council tax on time are not directly affected by those who do not.”
Kirklees says 70% of residents – 111,700 households – pay by direct debit which has led to fewer people falling behind.
The council advises people struggling to visit www.betteroffkirklees.org.uk to see if they are eligible for council tax reduction, or contact Advice Kirklees, Debt Advice or Stepchange for help.
