Local Rates

2024-07-02 review my evidence

Torrential rain and pitch dark outside. I hear little Māyā yelp in distress out there. Sure enough, she's all tangled up on the lead. The garden is not dog proof and no way am I spending any more money on this fucking shit hole where there is not one single reason that I should want to stay.

It just fuels my adrenalin and hatred for this community and their parasitic local authorities. It makes me more determined than ever to fight back, regardless the consequences. Life isn't worth living this way.

It started with threats for an alleged overdue account. Evidence suggests previous property owners had left me with their rates backlog, while my lawyers failed to sort it out, so I asked for information.

In reply I got threats from debt collectors... no explanations, so I insisted and eventually got this:

It doesn't explain anything really... just a blanket charging formula for unspecified services. The General differential rate was raised 34%, but no indication wht it's for. The uniform annual General Charge seems to be the same regardless what services they provide and last time I used Karamea refuse disposal they charged me $9 to dump one bag of rubbish so I'm bloody well not paying them an extra $138 subsidy.

As for the rebate. I have been living on half my superannuation for almost a year trying to sort out new requirements for overseas superannuation. Having been forced to change my bank I had no access to any records of what i had been paidANZ don't supply printed statements and had shut my account for failing to complete their due dilligence form.

I had no idea how to sort this mess out and insisted they explain, but the sanctimonious bureaucrats declined and told me they would only send me demands for the debt I would allegedly owe them. Thus alleging that they tried to communicate is demonstrably false.

Totally out of the blue I received this demand that includes a 10% late payment penalty from West Coast Regional Council. Apparently a separate local authority that I'm also expect to pay for God knows what. It would be funny if it wasn't so threatening, so I didn't respond, but no doubt they will be after my blood too.

Very quickly I became painfully aware that unreasonable dog restrictions render this entire area completely useless to me: How could I ever enjoy stomping around their national park reserves on my own while my lovely dogs languish in a kennel somewhwere? I'm also not snapping them all on the leash everytime someone turns up on the beach. My dogs are friendly and not agressive and it's just too stressful to play like that. I deferred paying dog licenses until they kindly let me know what facilities are provided for dogs and their owners here.

By coincidence they now sent me a petulant demand for payment including significant penalties and just to rub it in, they had included a flier telling me no dogs are allowed on the Kawatiri Coastal Trail. The details are incorrect (e.g. Lucy has been speyed) and they didn't acknowledge the $104 license fee I paid to get Tama released from their dog pound. I also wonder why they weren't more helpful to identify the many public areas in the district where dogs under control are allowed. We're bored to tears with the beaches here and could do with some constructive input.

2024-06-30 reply to BDC proceedings

When I first came to NZ, I bought a section in the Marlborough Sounds planning to build a small two bedroom batch for myself and potentially my son if he should one day be allowed to visit me. Alas council approvals and resource consents blocked me at every turn. That situation dragged on for decades and there was nothing I could do to resolve it. I ended up paying and paying for a vacant section that I could do nothing with and could not sell.

Judge Neaves did recognize that my case was not without merrit as testified by the transcript of the court case, but I couldn't get a lawyer to deal with it so in the end after a lot of futile distress I was financially destroyed by petty bureaucrats on a powertrip.

It's relevant now, because once again I find myself trapped in an unsustainable confrontation with local council that I can't resolve. My dire experiences from back then means I now know that hiring lawyers would be worse than useless: District court has no jurisdiction to rule on my reasons for not paying.

However, I was NOT refusing to pay rates. All I was doing is deferring payment until I get clear explanations of exactly what I am paying for. Am I not entitled to itemized invoice that specifies services rendered and periods that payments relate to? I'm also contesting their right to charge for multiple dog licenses on similar grounds.

I am contesting the right of civil servants to impose penalties without there being a hearing in which I can present my case to an impartial judiciary and I'm contesting my liability for their debt collector and lawyer fees: Was it not them that chose to hire such professionals rather than simply giving me the information requested? IMHO, local authorities have got way out of control and they've totally destroyed the quality of living so I'm going to stand in defiance of their bullying. Here is my first draft of a counter defense.

Nodoubt I will have a hard time getting the judge to even listen to me while their professional lawyer will inundate us with legalese and supercillious disrespect. My concern now is what documents to produce in evidence and how to present it. Maybe the historical stuff is not really relevant and all i need is to show my polite request for information and their bullying and intimidation, followed by extortion, holding my dogs to ransom and refusal to communicate. It proves they were lying when they claimed they had been trying.

Is it a battle worth fighting? Well no, but reality is that I can't make ends meet anyway, so the end result is foregone conclusion and I might as well get it over and done with. Note: IDK yet if I will retaliate, or how, but I will definietly document it this time.

2024-06-18 Notice of Proceedings

Finally served with a notice of proceedings today. I'm appear unable to communicate with autocratic civil servants yet I want answers.

For a start, what are they actually charging me for? Don't I have a right to a clear itemized invoice rather than threats and demands for money. The closest they ever came to telling me is this:

As far as I'm concerned, roads are public right of way. I pay per kilometer on my Diesel van and don't see why I should pay again. For drainage, there isn't even a ditch along our road and I can see nothing between me and the sea that might stop it flooding. Maybe they do pay for the library, but I don't use that. As for the "Reserves", would those be all the places that they won't let me walk with my dogs... not even on a leash?

It took 11 months to extract that information from them. I don't think I'm getting value for money here and I want a better explanation. With all their threats, this just looks like an extortion racket by uppity civil servants with inflated wages & egos on a power trip.

What about querying what I'm actually paying for? Well it's like this:

That that the district court has NO JURISDICTION to rule on my reasons for not paying, but was i not paying? All i am asking for is explanations of what I'm paying for and they should rule weather i am justified in deferring payment until I get that.

2024-04-17 Refuse collection

No refuse collection round here, so I have to save it up and take a car load to the tip every so often. No wheely bins provided either and recenetly animals got in to my bags at night. My dog was sick from eating from what had been strewn around too, so I need to build an enclosure.

Took 3 bags to the tip and paid $9 today. Hidden costs of independent living in the country side, both in money and effort that all adds up over the year and makes me wonder WTF local council actually does provide for the rates they claim to be entitled to.

2024-04-17 Water filter

2024-02-23 Debt Collectors

A letter arrives from Resolve Collections Ltd. wherein they threaten to harm my credit rating. They give me 21 days from the date on their notice. What I notice is that it is dated the 14th, so it took 9 days to get here and it's Friday so nothing will get done until after the weekend. It certainly wouldn't allow me time to get an appointment with a lawyer. Here is my reply:

2024-03-24 My rates Query

2024-01-22 Threat of Court Proceedings

I received Buller District Council "final warning letter". They allege they tried to contact me several times to discuss overdue rate arrears. They allege I failed to respond. However that is a lie.

They have failed to explain what services I would be paying them for. They have failed to explain why I should be obliged to pay them at all. They are not willing to consider how I might sustain their recurring payments, or even aford the exorbitant costs of living that I now incur consequent to moving to this shit-hole.

I had come here hoping to retire where I might enjoy walking my dogs in unspoiled nature, but the area was misrepresented and I was decieved: Dogs are banned from their "untamed natural wildreness" and we've been forced to do our walks exposed to the elements on soft sandy beaches. The lack of support has resulted in knee injury and reemergence of an old hernia while the glaring sun has blistered my skin.

As pest control, "Vector" presumably funded with our taxes, dump poison bait in the bush. Meat that one might hunt, is likely contaminated and unsafe to eat.

As a former city dweller I've been unable to catch any fish and have had no success growing my own vegetables. The garden and fencing have proved unsuitable for my dogs, with agressive and hostile neighbors on all four sides.

Even if I did want to stay here, the house that I was sold (with some suspicious shenanigans) has many defects and is of very low standard. Trying to fix it up would deplete the last of my savings, so I'm not going to do that. Reality is that this place is completely unfit for purpose. I will have to move again, but expect to have a hard time selling and I have nowhere to go when I do.

There appear to be two local authorities in this area, each making demands with threats that can only result in me ending up cold homeless and hungry. I suspect they would calously "euthanize" my three loving and friendly dogs. I feel I have no alternative, but to withhold my compliance and to fight back.

Adjacent I upload all our communictaions so far. Among them, on 19 September 2023, after failing to answer my questions, their agent, Jenny Collins confirms she will only be sending me debt notices, so their alleged attempts at discussing are a myth. They are not going to listen. Trying to talk to them proves futile and their threats of taking my home and my income effectively will amount to a death sentence.

Consequently it is necessary that my case be heard in a lawful court by an independent judge or magistrate. By that I mean one that actually has jurisdiction to rule on the merit of my reasons for not paying against their justification for making such demands with menaces.

Jenny further threatens that their legal costs will be added to my alleged debt. She herself faces no consequences at all and will be collecting a fat wage at our expense regardless. However, this too is not a decision for her to make, but one for the court. To me it seems they are behaving just like the Mafia, running a protection racket. I believe that without an agreed contract I am under no obligation to pay. It is their intransigence that makes independent arbitration necessary. I doubt their lawyers will even attempt to produce an equitable, or viable solution.