This Act may be cited as the Te Kauwhata Town Council Empowering Act 1960.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

The Council may from time to time in manner provided by the Municipal Corporations Act 1954 make bylaws providing for the payment of an annual fee for sewerage purposes (hereinafter referred to as the sanitation fee), and may in every year levy a sanitation fee in accordance with such bylaws on all rateable property situated within the town district.

Any such bylaws may make provision for the exemption from payment of the sanitation fee of any owner or occupier of property which is not served or is not likely to be served by the Council’s sewerage service.

The sanitation fee may in any year be of a sufficient amount to provide for the payment of the whole or part of the interest and other charges for that year on any loan or loans heretofore or hereafter raised by the Council for sewerage purposes and of the cost of maintaining the Council’s sewerage service.

Where any loan has been raised (whether before or after the passing of this Act) by the Council for the purpose of carrying out any sewerage or drainage scheme and has been secured by a special rate levied over the rateable property within the town district or any defined portion of the town district, the Council may, in any year in which the amount collected or to be collected by way of sanitation fees is available and sufficient for the payment of the whole or part of the interest and other charges on the loan, refrain from levying the said special rate or reduce the amount thereof to be levied in that year, as the case may be.

The proceeds of any sanitation fee shall be available only for the purposes mentioned in subsection (3) of this section.

A sanitation fee shall for all purposes be deemed to be a separate rate.

Nothing in this Act shall in any way prejudicially affect the security afforded by any special rate to the holders of any securities or affect the rights or interests of any debenture holder or other creditor of the Council.