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Local Government Act 2002

Governance and management of local authorities and community boards - Local authorities - Other governance matters

47: Members may be required to pay costs of proceeding in certain cases

You could also call this:

“Elected officials might pay court costs if they break property rules”

If the Attorney-General takes legal action against your local authority, and the court finds that the authority has done something wrong with its property or reserves, there could be consequences for the members of the authority.

The court might decide that the local authority has used its property in the wrong way, for an illegal purpose, or allowed its reserves to be used for things that aren’t allowed by law. If this happens, the local authority might be told to stop doing these things.

In these cases, the costs of the legal action and fixing the problems can’t be paid from the local authority’s general money. Instead, the court can order the members of the local authority who agreed to these wrong actions to pay the costs themselves.

However, you won’t have to pay if you can show that you acted in good faith and followed the advice of the local authority’s lawyer. You also won’t have to pay if you can prove you acted honestly and reasonably, and that considering all the circumstances, it would be fair to excuse you.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM171865.

Topics:
Government and voting > Local councils
Crime and justice > Courts and legal help
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“Council members might have to pay back money if the council loses it”

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“Rules about planning committees have changed and old rules no longer apply”

Part 4 Governance and management of local authorities and community boards
Local authorities: Other governance matters

47Members may be required to pay costs of proceeding in certain cases

  1. This section applies if, in a proceeding commenced by the Attorney-General, the local authority is—

  2. held to have—
    1. disposed of, or dealt with, any of its property wrongfully or illegally; or
      1. applied its property to any unlawful purpose; or
        1. permitted the reserves that it must manage to be used for purposes not authorised by law; or
        2. restrained from acting in the ways referred to in paragraph (a).

          1. If subsection (1) applies, costs and other expenses arising out of the proceeding or incurred in doing the things to which the proceeding relates—

          2. must not be paid out of general revenues by the local authority; and
            1. must be paid, by order of the court, by the members of the local authority who, by voting or otherwise, assented to the acts concerned.

              1. The court must not make an order under subsection (2) against a member of the local authority if the member proves that, in doing the act concerned,—

              2. the member acted in good faith and in accordance with the written advice of the solicitor to the local authority; or
                1. the member acted honestly and reasonably and, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, the member ought fairly to be excused.

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