Tasmanian man bills Burnie City Council $174k for putting footpath on his property. Photo / Supplied
Tasmanian man bills Burnie City Council $174k for putting footpath on his property. Photo / Supplied
A Tasmanian man has boldly billed his local council $183,000 for having a footpath on his property.
Michele "Mike" Mauceri, 62, was frustrated for more than a year after discovering that a public footpath, bench, power poles and Telstra pits had been put on his land at 24 View Rd, Burnie.
What's more, such is the location of the pits and poles that he is unable to drive into his own driveway, and has to go through the neighbour's one to reach his own.
However, his pleas to the council went unanswered.
Out of desperation, Mauceri decided to charge the Burnie City Council for use of his land, and even backdated the payment to when he first purchased his property in February 2019.
On May 27 this year, he sent them an invoice for a whopping $184,041 – or $219 a day. Every month since, he's sent another invoice, with the extra month's fees lumped on.
The original invoice Mike sent. Mike bought a hostel with plans to turn it into a hotel and restaurant. Photos / Supplied
"I've made an assumption of the amount of land occupied by the council, with the amount of money I could have made on car parking (in that space). It's an estimate," Mauceri told news.com.au.
"$1 an hour for X amount of cars. That's how I came up with that figure."
"I'm trying to make jobs in the area, politics is stopping me from doing this."
The public bench , left, and the handrails, right, are on his on his property. Photos / Supplied
He never expected to get a A$183,000 lump sum, but was hoping he would draw attention to himself and cause something to change.
Last week, the council responded to Mauceri by flat-out refusing to pay the bill.
"The invoice that you have sent does not constitute a lawful demand for any amount owed you by the Burnie City Council," Burnie City Council director of works and services Gary Neil wrote on July 20.
"The invoice will not be paid and we request that you desist from sending such notices."
News.com.au reached out to council for comment on Friday afternoon.
In a statement the council said: "Council has responded to Mouceri and we cannot publicly discuss an issue between Council and a private resident."
However, several hours later Mauceri received an invite to meet with council staff members.
"I would like to say we offer to meet with you at your property next week at a time to suit both parties," Rowan Sharman, of Burnie City Council's Manager Engineering Services, said in an email seen by news.com.au.
Later on in the email, Sharman added: "You do not have a legal right to erect a fence or any other structure or obstruction that prevents use of the View Rd footpath irrespective of where your property title boundary is located.
"Should you propose to undertake any works of any nature that extend on or beyond your existing fence line, onto Council infrastructure, then a permit to undertake works within the Road Reserve is required.
"Please contact me should you wish to meet with Gary Neil and myself next week."