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Tireless campaigners against perceived unjust rates charges have vowed to fight on, despite losing their case in the Supreme Court.
Last month, Mangawhai retirees Bruce and Heather Rogan, both 74, were compelled to pay $115,000 in court-ordered costs after they lost an appeal in the Supreme Court to overturn an earlier Appeal Court decision.
Failure to pay could have resulted in the Kaipara District Council (KDC) forcing the sale of the Rogan’s home to recoup alleged debts.
The dispute goes back to a year-long rates strike by Mangawhai residents in 2012. The strike was prompted after the KDC allowed costs for a sewerage scheme for Mangawhai to spiral out of control, which in turn forced steep rate rises. The charging of these rates was deemed unlawful by a High Court judge, but they were ultimately validated by Parliament.
Among the issues at stake was the fact that while the Rogans agreed to pay the validated rates, they did not agree to late payment penalties on those rates of around $13,000. The rates dispute saw the KDC and the Rogans face off in the District Court, High Court, Appeal Court and Supreme Court.
Despite having lost in multiple courts, Mr Rogan says he will now seek a legal opinion on whether Council was right to impose an “oldest debt first policy” on outstanding rates demands.
This meant that when the Rogans attempted to pay their most recent rates, the money was used to instead pay off earlier penalties. This meant the new rates effectively went unpaid and attracted further penalties.
The Rogans say Council has told them that they have a legal opinion that the “oldest debt first policy” is valid though will not release that opinion to the Rogans unless they pay a fee.
Mr Rogan says if there is in fact no legal basis for the “oldest debt first policy”, then Council will have committed a crime and the mayor could go to jail.
Meanwhile, Mr Rogan says he and his wife succeeded in finding $98,000 to cover their court costs and the remainder of the money was covered by the Mangawhai Ratepayers Association and supporters.
Mr Rogan says currently he requires surgery that may be unavailable through the public system. If he has to have the operation done privately, he and his wife will be “completely skint”.
Mr Rogan says he’s considering writing a book about the dispute that has gone on for almost 10 years, but wonders if people will believe that the Council, the Government and the Courts could have behaved so badly.
“People will say, ‘Balderdash, they would never behave like that’. But the fact is they did,” he says.
KDC spokesperson Ben Hope acknowledges that the Council had an “oldest debt first policy”, and says it is common practice among councils. But he says that the legal opinion supporting it is “privileged” and Council will not release it.
He says Council has had no discussions with Mr Rogan about releasing the opinion for a fee.
Social Credit party leader Chris Leitch has also weighed in on the dispute.
He says Kaipara Mayor Dr Jason Smith should make good on an election promise to make a “fresh start” and pay back the penalties Council imposed on the Rogans.
“For Jason Smith to fall back on the fact that the Supreme Court had ordered the Rogans to pay $115,000, which included penalties for unpaid rates, is not a fresh start. It’s carrying on in the same vein the old council had started,” he says.
