"And yes, Mayor Brown has asked that any penalties due in this timeframe (over two years) shouldn't be added to his bill," the blog continued.
"The OAG suggests that Mayor Brown was not treated the same as any other ratepayer. I'd go as far as suggesting he misused his position as Mayor.
"I am looking forward to other Far North District Council ratepayers being treated with the same level of leniency and not being demanded to pay up front. At the same time it is a worry that the council can't work out how much an individual or their company owes. If I were a ratepayer in the Far North I'd be questioning my rates bill right about now."
Mr Brown does have his defenders, however. A correspondent to the Whaleoil blog (le sphincter) wrote:
"Because Mr Brown was travelling overseas for some weeks he left a cheque with the council for $55,754 as an interim step while we completed a final calculation. The council did not bank this cheque because it was concerned that to do so could be seen as accepting this amount as a final settlement of the dispute and so might jeopardise its legal position. (According to the OAG the cheque wasn't signed).
"So he did pay in advance. As most was contributions to sewage reticulation it's not rates to be paid on demand in the normal sense, but he did pay a small portion of actual rates while it was all worked out.
"All in all, a good Mayor."
Mayors receive special treatment
Far North Mayor Wayne Brown has accepted the findings of the Auditor-General, who has released her decision after reviewing the dispute between Mr Brown and the council over rates and charges claimed against his property development company Waahi Paraone Ltd. (Honours even in Brown vs council row, August 16), but told The Northland Age last week that he had not been treated as any other rate payer could have expected.
``Anyone who thinks being Mayor gives you advantages over other ratepayers is dreaming,'' he said.
``I am not able to get any thing like the consideration or practical decision-making from staff that is available to the general public.
``It has taken years to resolve the dispute over development contributions that all started back when the council spilled raw sewage over my property, all before I even thought of being the Mayor.
``Although the OAG's report is full of errors we have accepted the finding that we should pay $76,487, which is pretty much halfway between the minimum due, at zero, and the maximum at $150,000. Any other ratepayer would have had a deal settled at $75,000 years ago without all the hassle I have had, but at least the sum was chosen at arm's length by OAG, so nobody can say it was a sweetheart deal.''
Meanwhile Kaitaia man Des Mahoney has lodged an Official Information ACT request with the council, asking how much staff time was spent and at what cost on trying to resolve the issue, and the cost to ratepayers of solicitors, travel and corres pondence.
He also wants to know if the next council meeting will discuss the writing off of any outstanding penalties owed by Waahi Paraone Ltd., and whether any such discussion will be in open or closed meeting.
