Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Councillors to see advice on rates

Matthew Martin
By Matthew Martin
Senior reporter, Rotorua Daily Post·Rotorua Daily Post·
12 Aug, 2012 11:15 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

District councillors were being blocked from seeing legal advice provided to council staff about a business rates remission policy, after they questioned the policy's legality.

However, after repeated requests, Rotorua District Council chief executive Peter Guerin will release the information.

On Tuesday, Rotorua district councillors agreed to apply automatic rates remissions to 57 business properties in the district at a total cost to ratepayers of $339,095.

The remission was applied after the Rotorua business community said the council's new capital value rating system unfairly penalised business owners with large increases.

Rotorua district councillors Charles Sturt and Mark Gould told The Daily Post they had requested the legal opinion Mr Guerin based the remission policy on, but were told he would withhold that information from them under the Local Government Act.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Councillors had previously asked Mr Guerin if the remission policy was legal and if the council needed to consult the community again about what Mr Sturt called a significant departure from the council's Long Term Plan.

Mr Sturt said he was uncomfortable with Mr Guerin's decision to hold back legal advice, but after repeated requests he was pleased to hear he now had access to that information.

"The [remission] policy was not consulted on and is unfair on the rest of the community as it only benefits the business sector."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He said he believed the policy was illegal under the Local Government Act because it had not been publicly consulted on earlier this year and constituted a major change to the Long Term Plan, which was approved by the council on June 29.

Mr Guerin told councillors at Tuesday's meeting he would provide them with a copy of the legal advice, but in the intervening days he denied councillors' requests.

However, on Thursday afternoon he reversed his decision yet again, saying he would now give the legal advice to councillors.

"I'm not sure why he has done that; all I wanted to see was a copy of that advice, as he may have missed something," Mr Sturt said.

"I see the change in the remission policy as an amendment to the Long Term Plan [which] must go out for public consultation as per the Local Government Act. That's why I insisted on seeing a copy of the legal advice."

The Daily Post attempted to access the same information but was refused.

The council's Corporate and Customer Services group manager, Jean-Paul Gaston, said that under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 council officers considered the advice to be held under legal privilege and it would remain confidential.

"However, I can assure you that the council has been careful to ensure that the approach we have taken to address the concerns of local business ratepayers is appropriate under council's existing policies and has a sound legal basis."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post
|Updated

Family outraged as kuia's image used on Hobson's Pledge billboard without consent

Rotorua Daily Post

Highway reopens after timber truck blaze

Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

'Super motivating': Why Tauranga's triathlon coup is a big opportunity for local athletes


Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Family outraged as kuia's image used on Hobson's Pledge billboard without consent
Rotorua Daily Post
|Updated

Family outraged as kuia's image used on Hobson's Pledge billboard without consent

Hobson’s Pledge used an image of Ellen Tamati without her permission.

06 Aug 05:35 AM
Highway reopens after timber truck blaze
Rotorua Daily Post

Highway reopens after timber truck blaze

06 Aug 05:30 AM
Premium
Premium
'Super motivating': Why Tauranga's triathlon coup is a big opportunity for local athletes
Rotorua Daily Post

'Super motivating': Why Tauranga's triathlon coup is a big opportunity for local athletes

06 Aug 02:00 AM


Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’
Sponsored

Revealed: The night driving ‘red flag’

04 Aug 11:37 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP