LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1995 - SECT 6.37
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1995 - SECT 6.37
6.37 . Specified area rates
(1) A local government
may impose a specified area rate on rateable land within a portion of its
district for the purpose of meeting the cost of the provision by it of a
specific work, service or facility if the local government considers that the
ratepayers or residents within that area —
(a) have
benefited or will benefit from; or
(b) have
access to or will have access to; or
(c) have
contributed or will contribute to the need for,
that work, service or
facility.
(2) A local government
is required to —
(a) use
the money from a specified area rate for the purpose for which the rate is
imposed in the financial year in which the rate is imposed; or
(b) to
place it in a reserve account established under section 6.11 for that purpose.
(3) Where money has
been placed in a reserve account under subsection (2)(b), the local government
is not to —
(a)
change the purpose of the reserve account; or
(b) use
the money in the reserve account for a purpose other than the service for
which the specified area rate was imposed,
and section 6.11(2),
(3) and (4) do not apply to such a reserve account.
(4) A local government
may only use the money raised from a specified area rate —
(a) to
meet the cost of providing the specific work, service or facility for which
the rate was imposed; or
(b) to
repay money borrowed for anything referred to in paragraph (a) and interest on
that money.
(5) If a local
government receives more money than it requires from a specified area rate on
any land or if the money received from the rate is no longer required for the
work, service or facility the local government —
(a) may,
and if so requested by the owner of the land is required to, make a refund to
that owner which is proportionate to the contributions received by the local
government; or
(b) is
required to allow a credit of an amount proportionate to the contribution
received by the local government in relation to the land on which the rate was
imposed against future liabilities for rates or service charges in respect of
that land.
(6) Where —
(a)
before the coming into operation of the Local Government Amendment Act 2012
Part 2 Division 5, a specified area rate was imposed, or purportedly imposed,
under this section by a local government for the purpose of the provision of
underground electricity; and
(b) the
underground electricity was not, or will not, be provided, or not wholly
provided, by the local government,
the rate is, and is
taken always to have been, as validly imposed under this section as it would
have been if, at the time of the imposition of the rate, the local government
were to provide the underground electricity.
[Section 6.37 amended: No. 2 of 2012 s. 20.]