ARC delivers Christmas amnesty for wavering ratepayers

16 December 2004

The Auckland Regional Council will allow ratepayers with rates arrears to make an arrangement to pay their outstanding bill so that they do not incur further penalties.

Wyn Hoadley, Chair of the Finance Committee says that the new Council wants to encourage any remaining ratepayers with arrears to pay their outstanding rates, in the knowledge that they will not be penalised further for withholding their payment.

“This Council is prepared to offer a flexible arrangement that spreads the payments over time, providing that any outstanding balance is paid by 30 June 2005,” Mrs Hoadley says.

“This effectively means that the 10 per cent penalty which would have been applied this January will not come into force if people contact us to make an arrangement to pay by 11 February 2005.”

“The ratepayers concerned will be sent a letter asking them to fill out a form and return it to us.”

“We acknowledge that some people may find it difficult to enter into an arrangement to pay during the Christmas holidays, so we are giving people plenty of time to get in touch,” Mrs Hoadley says.

Robyn Hughes, Deputy Chair of the Finance Committee says she welcomes the initiative.

“I welcome this as a first step and look forward to working on other policy initiatives to establish a fair rates system,” Robyn Hughes says.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>