Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis concedes he should have apologised and retracted statements he made during debate about a planned Portobello boardwalk, instead of packing up and leaving a council meeting.
Cr Vandervis had referred on Tuesday to a roading project on Otago Peninsula as resulting in significantly improved property values for people who lived there, such as the late mayor Dave Cull and some council staff.
"Mayor Cull’s religious conversion to becoming a Lycra-clad cyclist quite some number of years ago amazed me at the time and what has amazed me since is the amount of money that has disproportionately gone to the peninsula," he said.
Cr Vandervis suggested a targeted rate might have been appropriate.
Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins said it was out of order for Cr Vandervis to suggest decisions were made based on where people lived and for their own personal benefit, and asked him to withdraw his statements and apologise.
Cr Vandervis denied he had suggested anyone did anything untoward, and left the meeting rather than apologise, but later accepted he got it wrong.
"In retrospect, I should have retracted the statements and apologised as requested by Mayor Hawkins, rather than withdrawing from the meeting."
In 2014, the auditor-general’s office was asked if Mr Cull and two councillors should be prohibited from taking part in annual plan considerations because of a pecuniary interest.
It was ruled barring the trio from involvement would have had a detrimental effect on council deliberations.
