Ratepayers shocked to foot legal bill

Brian Donaldson • Published 29 Apr 2010 09:45 0 Comments

Just as Fermanagh ratepayers are currently settling their rates bills this year, they will be aggrieved to hear of further unexpected expense when it comes to paying their rates bill next year.

The High Court has ruled that the Council and therefore the ratepayers in the county, face a legal bill of around a quarter of a million pounds over a case originally brought to protect them of any expense.

The costs derive from an investigation into the appointment of Rodney Connor as Council chief executive 10 years ago. When two other candidates lodged cases complaining they had not got the job, the Council, after taking legal opinion, was advised to pay out compensation rather than face court action. This amounted to £38,000, including costs.

The Local Government Auditor felt compelled to protect ratepayers by trying to levy that money on unionist councillors whom he accused of "wilful misconduct in voting en bloc." The councillors won their case and this case and appeal ran up costs of almost £300,000.

While the Council itself was not involved directly in the court cases, it and ultimately its ratepayers must now pick up the bill, according to the ruling this week from the High Court.

While initially the Auditor was trying to absolve blame on the Council for the original pay-out to the two unsuccessful candidates, once the councillors were cleared on appeal, he subsequently attempted to recover all the costs from the Council. That has now been ruled on by the High Court which in a judgement stated that the investigation into the process of appointing a new chief executive was entirely justified in the circumstances.

The Chairman of Fermanagh District Council and councillors feel disappointed that the Council while not a party to the action taken by the Auditor against the councillors now face the prospect of paying the full legal costs.

People will justifiably fail to understand how the Auditor started off trying to recover £38,000 on behalf of the ratepayers, has in effect, cost ratepayers some £250,

Tweet

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 29 Apr 10

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

You must be logged in to post. If you have not registered with us, please do so now.

Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users do not have to complete word verification once logged in and can also take part in competitions and other registered user only features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Opinion archives.