COURT APPEALS COST COUNCIL $900K
Mayor defends legal bill
TOOWOOMBA Regional Council has spent more than $900,000 on legal costs defending its decisions in court over the past 17 months. Mayor Paul Antonio has defended the costs, which were outlined in a document obtained by The Chronicle.
The collective bill relates to matters in front of the planning and environment court.
Photo: Contributed
TOOWOOMBA Mayor Paul Antonio has defended his council’s $926,000 legal bill from fighting appeals in the planning and environment court over the past 17 months.
The Chronicle can reveal the council spent hundreds of thousands of ratepayer’s money defending itself in 14 court cases between January 2017 to May this year.
While most of the matters were disputes over infrastructure charges between the the developer and the council, some were triggered by the councillors voting against its own officers’ recommendations.
Cr Antonio said the TRC had never lost a case in court since amalgamation, with most appeals either discontinued, defeated or settled out of court.
“We’ve got a responsibility to deal with developers in an equitable and consistent way,” he said.
“The majority of appeals relate to infrastructure costs that relate to their developments (and) if the developer doesn’t pay those charges, they do fall to the ratepayer.
“If you look at the statistics in respect to our litigation, you’ll find we’re cautious about the way we go to court.
“The matter only goes to trial when we can’t get a mutual understanding, when we can’t get agreement (and) we’ve had to defend the ratepayer’s money.”
Two of the cases listed in the document, supplied by the TRC, stemmed from the councillors voting against its own officers.
There are also similar cases currently in court that were not in the document, including the controversial gated community proposal at Prince Henry Heights.
Cr Antonio said there was plenty of evidence showing a need for a new planning scheme, which is one of two documents that governs planning decisions.