A High Court ruling on a Mangawhai Ratepayers and Residents' Association (MRRA) application for a judicial review of controversial Kaipara District Council (KDC) rates could be handed down later this month.
But if it is released in the next three weeks the decision will contain no reasons for its findings. The judge who heard the MRRA application in the High Court at Whangarei in February, Justice Paul Heath, last week advised the association and the government-appointed commissioners representing the KDC opposing the application that he was pushed for time to produce his decision.
"I am presiding over a lengthy [South Canterbury Finance] fraud trial in the South Island. For a variety of reasons, it has not proved possible for me to devote as much time to writing a judgment in this case, while that trial progresses," he said. "I am unlikely to be able to give a reasoned decision on the association's application before mid to late July."
He said if an earlier decision was required he would provide a judgment with reasons to follow by the end of May. He invited the MRRA and KDC lawyers to confer and let him know what they wanted him to do.
MRRA chairman Bruce Rogan said the association wanted the decision released by the end of May so it was out before the end of the financial year on June 30.