Kapiti Coast District Council has been forced by a ratepayer to stop using the Maori macron in the spelling of its name.
A macron is used to lengthen vowel sounds in written Maori.
Paraparaumu resident Martin Warriner says his rates bill was illegal because it included one.
The council says it has obtained legal advice saying the macron should not be used in legal documents. It says this is because the council has to use its legislated name provided in the Local Government Act.
Mr Warriner says he is neither racist nor opposed to other uses of the macron.
Mr Warriner says he is not a racist or against other uses of the macron. He says he is now the only Kapiti ratepayer to have a legal rates bill because his does not have any macrons.
Mayor Jenny Rowan says the matter is a storm in a tea cup.
The council will still use a macron when it is not necessary to use its legal name.
