NEWS AND YOUR VIEWS FOR OUR DISTRICT

      

04-Sep-12

Rates still in limbo

by Paul Campbell

Ron Manderson — chairman of the Kaipara Citizens and Ratepayers Association

 

Kaipara ratepayers will have to wait and see when it comes to the amounts they will be asked to pay, following the adoption last week of the Kaipara District Council’s Long Term Plan.

In the continuing fallout from that watershed gathering, the two major ratepayers organisations in Kaipara are concerned the ‘sacked’ councillors final act was to pass a ‘totally unacceptable LTP that appallingly fails to meet numerous legislative pre-requisites’.

Kaipara Citizens and Ratepayer’s Ron Manderson: “Given that anger, and the fact many have yet to find out the full extent of their rates and services increases because of last minute changes to the LTP, it is likely that many more will either choose not to pay or cannot afford their new rates.”

He added that KCRA is planning “a petition to better ensure the government and the commissioners attend several acute concerns of ratepayers”.

Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers chair, Bruce Rogan, also slammed the LTP signoff by council:

“Where is the rule of law in this? From what we have seen it appears there’s an average of 19 per cent on rates coming up, but that would seem to be substantially higher in the eastern part of the district. But we have not seen any demands yet and in any event the LTP is unconscionable as its has been adopted illegally — it has no legal basis. We are actively encouraging our residents to refuse to pay a cent. It’s not about our pockets, it’s about the rule of law.”

Kaipara ratepayers advocate, Clive Boonham, reacted by saying there was now “hope for the future.”

While he has been critical of the review team appointed by the government, “as many of us suspected (it) was a Trojan Horse. It was a means of circumventing the laborious requirements in the Local Government Act appointing a review authority. Once it had gained access to the council stronghold it became a review authority in everything but name.

“The report from the team is impressive. Those of us who have battled the council for several years have often wondered how such an inept and incompetent group of people could hijack the local government process, ignore the legislation, commit illegality after illegality, make an art-form of incompetence, ignore all concepts of governance, squander tens of millions of dollars, ignore their common law duty of care and their fiduciary obligations,and do so with utter impunity.

“The report from the review team highlights the breakdown in governance, the community’s loss of trust in council and the precarious nature of council’s finances. It also itemises issues that need to be resolved by the commissioners and the community such as the illegal rates. That signifies some hope for the future.

“There is an awful lot of good will in the community to move forward and get council back to where it should be. However, the commissioners need to understand that the community is deeply hurt and offended by what has happened in the past and that the skeletons of the past must be confronted. There has to be an analysis of what went wrong and an assessment of who is to bear the responsibility for the losses and illegal debts of council.

“Ratepayers are suspicious that the promises of the commissioners are all flannel and spin. Let us hope that they are not. The review team has laid some good foundations. All we have to do now is to build on them.”