Activist Penny Bright's 11-year refusal to pay rates resolved

Activist Penny Bright has resolved her outstanding rates dispute with the Auckland Council after 11 years of refusing to pay thousands of dollars in outstanding bills on her Kingsland home.

Auckland Council confirmed on Thursday Bright had resolved the bill.

Since 2007 Bright had disputed and refused to pay Auckland Council because of "the lack of transparency in council spending on private-sector consultants and contractors".

The home had been listed by Barfoot & Thompson in April for sale as the council asked the High Court to sell the house to recoup the unpaid rates and penalties.

It followed an unsuccessful appeal by Bright and a statutory six-month stand-down period for the council.

Bright said she had applied for a rates postponement application which had been accepted.

That had stopped the forced sale of her house proceeding.

"My one woman's rate protest is now over, it is just a small battle in the war for transparency. People understand I took a stance."

Earlier this month Bright revealed she has "incurable and inoperable" stage 3 ovarian cancer.

At the start of the year, Auckland Council acting group chief financial officer Matthew Walker told the Herald taking enforcement action to recover unpaid rates was "the last resort and happens very rarely".

"The council has written to Ms Bright regularly over the last six months offering to resolve this matter".

The Aucklander had set up a givealittle page with a funding goal of $21,000 to stop the sale.

The page closed on April 20 and managed to collect $15,120.

"It has always been my intention to pay outstanding rates, but because I was broke, I would have been able to apply for rates postponement.

"However, after an 11-year battle, it has never been my intention to apply for rates postponement, until the 'job was finished' and the following details of awarded contracts were available for public scrutiny," Bright said.

The accrued money from the givealittle would be released in May 2019 and the money would go towards the outstanding rates, she said.

In January 2016, the District Court entered judgment for Auckland Council against Bright for $34,182.56 for outstanding rates and penalties.

Costs were awarded in the council's favour for $13,249.20

In July 2016, Chief High Court judge Justice Geoffrey Venning dismissed an appeal by Bright in the High Court at Auckland and awarded costs in favour of the council for $7080.

The summary judgment obtained was for outstanding rates and penalties of $34,182.56, as at June 30, 2015.

The council has been awarded total costs in the District and High Courts of $20,329.20.

In May 2017, the High Court issued a notice pursuant to the Local Government Rating Act of 2002 requiring Bright to pay the judgment sum, costs and all remaining rates due on the property.