NRC Welcomes rates appeal

---

The Northland Regional Council has welcomed a Court of Appeal decision on the way it set due dates for the payment of rates and its arrangements for rate collection within the Kaipara district.

The Court of Appeal ruling at the end of March comes after the Northland Regional Council (NRC) filed an urgent appeal against a High Court decision quashing several years of its rates in the Kaipara district and an earlier related decision by the High Court which found two issues with the council's rating practices.

The issues were how council set due dates for the payment of rates and its arrangements for rate collection within the Kaipara district.) A ‘relieved’ council chairman, Bill Shepherd, says the council will need to examine today’s Court of Appeal finding in more detail over the next week or two. However, essentially – while confirming some technical breaches by the regional council – the decision allows the regional council’s appeals against the earlier High Court findings and provides muchneeded clarity for ratepayers and councils all over New Zealand.

Chairman Shepherd says at the heart of the case – which had implications for local authorities nationally – was the council’s use of its Kaipara district counterpart to collect rates on its behalf. While the Court of Appeal judgement is a lengthy one and traverses a number of areas, overall it largely supports the regional council’s position, the court declaring the council’s rates for the affected period valid and ordering costs against the plaintiffs – Bruce and Heather Rogan and the Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents Association). In its decision, the Court of Appeal refers to collaborative arrangements for rate collection as having “the laudable aims of minimising cost and increasing efficiencies as required of the Regional Council by the local Government Act”.

“The decision means we can continue with the efficient administration of rates through use of shared service arrangements, providing value for money for our shared ratepayer base,” Chairman Shepherd says.