Hangover for ratepayers

Rodney Hide. Photo / The Aucklander

Ratepayers will be paying for the new Super City to sue itself from November, when outstanding legal disputes between councils are transferred to the new Auckland council.

Although all councils will be merged into one, any unresolved legal disputes will be left for the Super City to resolve - with ratepayers footing the bill.

In the past year more than 300 legal actions cost ratepayers an estimated $10 million.

A spokeswoman for Local Government Minister Rodney Hide said: "One of the benefits of having a unitary council is ... we will no longer see independent entities having their own different views and fighting it out in the courts."