Leaders of a Kaipara rates mutiny are urging property owners not to pay the council another cent until commissioners now running the council sort out the problem of illegal rates.
Four Government-appointed commissioners took over the running of the debt-ridden council this week.
Mangawhai Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Bruce Rogan says the Government's terms of reference state one of their first jobs will be enforcing the payment of this year's rates.
He says that amounts to a declaration of war because Mangawhai rates, and other sewerage levies, have been illegally struck for several years.
The small Mangawhai community is refusing to foot the bill for a sewerage scheme that ended up costing more than $50 million - twice what ratepayers originally agreed to.
