Riccarton makes 3rd public notice error

Press, 1 May 1984, Page 8

Riccarton makes 3rd public notice error

Public notices about the Riccarton Borough Council’s intention to raise two big loans will have to be readvertised because the first notices were defective. The council was supposed to confirm last evening two special orders to raise a $1,274 million loan for its electricity modernisation programme and a $559,000 loan for the Riccarton town centre improvement project. However, the meeting was told that the public notices about the loans were defective, so the advertisements would have to be run again. The council could not confirm the orders until its meeting on May 28. The Town Clerk, Mr J. B. Skinner, said after the meeting that the public notices about the loans omitted to say that the council would be required to hold a poll of affected ratepayers if more than 15 per cent of the ratepayers demanded it.

The error would not cause any difficulty in raising the money, because the loans had been sanctioned by the Local Authority Loans Board and would be raised in June or July. It was “just a bit embarrassing,” he said. The problem was caused by a straight mistake in drafting the advertisements.

The error was drawn to the council’s attention only yesterday by solicitors acting for the Riccarton Mall, which opposes the council’s

plan to introduce a differential rating system on properties in the Riccarton town centre. The differential rate will cover the cost of the $559,000 town centre improvement loan. It is the third time mistakes have been made by the council in raising the loan for the $BOO,OOO town centre improvement project. In March, the council was told that public notices advertising the proposed differential rating system were defective because they failed to notify ratepayers that they had the right to

object to the proposal.

On Christmas Eve last year, councillors had to take time out from the council’s end-of-year party to hold an emergency meeting to pass formal resolutions for both the town centre and the electricity modernisation loans. They had been omitted from the agenda for an earlier council meeting.

There was no discussion of the error in the public notices for the loans at last evening’s meeting. Mr Skinner apologised for the inconvenience and said there was no alternative but to readvertise the two loans.