A High Court judge found it "incomprehensible" that the former democratically-elected Kaipara District Council would decide to increase the cost of a controversial wastewater project by tens of millions of dollars without consulting its ratepayers who were to pay for it.
In a judgment released this week, Justice Paul Heath ruled the council breached the Local Government Act by entering into the sewerage scheme and took particular aim at former Mayor Neil Tiller, his councillors and chief executive Jack McKerchar.
He said the Auditor General Lyn Provost's assessment that the council's decision to basically double the size of a controversial wastewater project from $35.6 million to an estimated $57.7 million "wasn't appropriate" was a "gross understatement".
"It must have been blindingly obvious to the mayor and his councillors that while ratepayers might (given that the project did not enjoy universal approval) have been prepared to pay increased rates to meet a cost of $35.6 million, it could not be said confidently that they would agree to pay $57.7 million for a similar facility."
Justice Heath said the Local Government Act required the council to "make itself aware of" and "have regard to the views of all of its communities" in terms of processes to be followed when making major decisions.