Rates bill win after 14-year dispute for Alice Springs man Gary James Carter

A TERRITORY man who disputed an overdue rates bill for 14 years has largely had his stance vindicated after the Civil and Administrative Tribunal tore up the bulk of the bill

AN ALICE Springs man who disputed an overdue rates bill for 14 years has largely had his stance vindicated after the Civil and Administrative Tribunal tore up the bulk of the bill Alice Springs Town Council had been hounding him over.

The council took Gary James Carter to NTCAT’s small claims division pursuing a $1431 debt which began ­accruing in September 2004.

Mr Carter was late in paying his rates bill that year and the council began slugging him with a 19 per cent interest rate on the overdue amount.

The tribunal heard Mr Carter paid the original amount of the rates bill but “quite deliberately did not ­address arrears which were comprised of interest”.

Tribunal member Mark O’Reilly said: “And so it went … interest continued to ­accrue.”

Mr Carter’s “bone of contention” for more than a decade was with the way his rates bill was formatted.

In an email to the council in 2008, Mr Carter wrote he had “given up on calling each year and not being able to get (the dispute) resolved”.

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Mr Carter said in the email he was happy to have the disputed interest payment dealt with in front of a magistrate, which Mr O’Reilly said was “well within his rights”.

“Despite Mr Carter’s invitation, the Town Council opted not to pursue this avenue at the time,” Mr O’Reilly said in his decision, tearing up the bulk of council’s bill.

Mr O’Reilly said he doubted Mr Carter’s concerns about the formatting of the rates bill were valid.

But at a hearing in April, Mr Carter successfully argued the council was required to commence legal proceedings by 2011 if it wanted to recover the full amount it claimed within the six-year time limit.

Mr Carter was ordered only to pay $475.

Council’s largely failed efforts to recover the amount owed will leave it thousands out of pocket after Mr O’Reilly ordered the council to cover its own legal costs.

Alice Springs Town Council did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally published as Rates bill win after 14-year dispute for Alice Springs man Gary James Carter