(1)
The Christchurch City Council (the Council) has identified a number of irregularities that occurred in the financial years 2003/2004 to 2012/2013 (inclusive) with respect to the setting of the Council’s rates, the payment dates for those rates, and the imposition of penalties in relation to unpaid rates:
(2)
The irregularities are as follows:
for the financial years 2003/2004 to 2012/2013 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Council’s rates, the Council failed, in breach of section 24 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to state clearly or to state at all that the rates would be payable by instalments and the dates by which the specified amounts would be payable:
for the financial years 2003/2004 to 2012/2013 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Council’s rates, the Council failed, in breach of section 57 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to state clearly or to state at all that penalties were to be added to rates that were not paid by the due date and to rates assessed in previous years that remained unpaid, the dates that penalties would be added to unpaid rates, and the amounts of those penalties that would be so added:
for the financial years 2006/2007 to 2008/2009 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Church Bay Sewer Loan rate and the Church Bay Water Loan rate, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that the resolutions did not state that the rate was set as a fixed amount per rating unit, as provided for in the Council’s funding impact statements:
for the financial years 2006/2007 to 2012/2013 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Governors Bay Sewer Loan rate and the Governors Bay Water Loan rate, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that the resolutions did not state that the rate was set as a fixed amount per rating unit, as provided for in the Council’s funding impact statements:
for the financial years 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Restricted Water Targeted rate, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that the resolutions did not state that the liability for this rate was calculated on the level of service through a restricted water supply system, as provided for in the Council’s funding impact statements:
for the financial year 2008/2009, in the resolution to set the Waste Minimisation rate, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that the resolution did not state that the rate was set as a fixed amount per rating unit, as provided for in the Council’s funding impact statement:
for the financial years 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Waste Minimisation rate, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that the resolutions did not state that the rate was calculated on the number of separately used or inhabited parts of a rating unit, as provided for in the Council’s funding impact statements:
for the financial years 2003/2004 to 2005/2006 (inclusive) and 2007/2008 to 2012/2013 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Water Fire Service Connection rate, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that the resolutions did not state that the rate was calculated on the number of connections, as provided for in the Council’s funding impact statements:
for the financial years 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2007/2008, and 2008/2009,—
the Council did not state clearly in the funding impact statements that the Uniform Annual General Charge would be calculated on the number of separately used or inhabited parts of a rating unit; and
in each resolution to set the Uniform Annual General Charge, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that the resolutions did not state that the charge was calculated on the number of separately used or inhabited parts of a rating unit, as was intended by the Council’s funding impact statements:
for the financial years 2003/2004, 2006/2007, and 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 (inclusive), in each resolution to set the Uniform Annual General Charge, the Council breached section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, to the extent that each resolution did not state that the charge was calculated on the number of separately used or inhabited parts of a rating unit, as provided for in the Council’s funding impact statements:
(3)
It is desirable that the irregularities with respect to the setting of the Council’s rates for the financial years 2003/2004 to 2012/2013 (inclusive) be validated and that the penalties added to unpaid rates for those financial years be validated:
(4)
Legislation is the only means by which the irregularities relating to the rates and penalties can be validated:
(5)
The objects of this Act cannot be attained otherwise than by legislation:
The Parliament of New Zealand therefore enacts as follows:
This Act is the Christchurch City Council (Rates Validation) Act 2015.
This Act comes into force on the day after the date on which it receives the Royal assent.
The purposes of this Act are to—
validate the payment dates for the rates; and
validate the penalties added to unpaid rates; and
validate the setting of the specified rates to the extent that the rates resolutions did not state the basis on which the liability for the rates would be calculated; and
treat all money received by the Council in payment of the rates (including the specified rates) and penalties added to those rates as having been lawfully paid to, and received by, the Council; and
authorise the Council to recover any part of the rates (including the specified rates) and any penalties added to those rates that remain unpaid as if the rates or penalties had always been lawfully payable.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
Church Bay Sewer Loan rate means the targeted rate—
set by the Council under section 16 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 for each of the financial years 2006/2007 to 2008/2009 (inclusive); and
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as either the Church Bay Sewer Loan Targeted rate or the Church Bay Sewerage rate; and
assessed on rating units in respect of which the relevant lump sum contribution had not been made as a fixed amount per rating unit as set out in the relevant funding impact statement
Church Bay Water Loan rate means the targeted rate—
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as either the Church Bay Water Loan Targeted rate or the Church Bay Water Supply rate; and
Council means the Christchurch City Council
funding impact statement has the same meaning as in section 5 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002
Governors Bay Sewer Loan rate means the targeted rate—
set by the Council under section 16 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 for each of the financial years 2006/2007 to 2012/2013 (inclusive); and
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as the Governors Bay Sewer Loan Targeted rate or the Governors Bay Sewerage rate or the Loan Servicing Costs for Governors Bay Sewerage Loan rate; and
Governors Bay Water Loan rate means the targeted rate—
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as the Governors Bay Water Loan Targeted rate or the Governors Bay Water Supply rate or the Loan Servicing Costs for Governors Bay Water Loan rate; and
rates—
means all of the rates—
set by the Council under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 for each of the financial years 2003/2004 to 2012/2013 (inclusive); and
referred to in the rates resolutions of the Council for those financial years; and
includes the specified rates
rates assessment and rates invoice have the same meanings as in section 5 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002
rates resolutions means the rates resolutions of the Council referred to in the Schedule
Restricted Water Targeted rate means the targeted rate—
set by the Council under section 16 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 for each of the financial years 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 (inclusive); and
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as the Restricted Water Targeted rate; and
assessed as a fixed amount per level of service as set out in the relevant funding impact statement
specified rates means the following rates:
Church Bay Sewer Loan rate:
Church Bay Water Loan rate:
Governors Bay Sewer Loan rate:
Governors Bay Water Loan rate:
Restricted Water Targeted rate:
Waste Minimisation rate:
Water Fire Service Connection rate:
Uniform Annual General Charge
Waste Minimisation rate means the targeted rate—
set by the Council under section 16 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 for each of the financial years 2008/2009 to 2012/2013 (inclusive); and
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as the Waste Minimisation rate or the Waste Minimisation Targeted rate; and
assessed as a fixed amount per rating unit in 2008/2009 and as a fixed amount per separately used or inhabited part of a rating unit in subsequent financial years as set out in the relevant funding impact statement
Water Fire Service Connection rate means the targeted rate—
set by the Council under section 16 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 for each of the financial years 2003/2004 to 2005/2006 (inclusive) and 2007/2008 to 2012/2013 (inclusive); and
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as the Water Fire Service Connection rate; and
assessed as a fixed amount per connection as set out in the relevant funding impact statement
Uniform Annual General Charge means the rate—
set by the Council under section 15 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002 for each of the financial years 2003/2004 to 2012/2013 (inclusive); and
referred to in the rates resolutions for those financial years as the Uniform Annual General Charge; and
assessed as a fixed amount per separately used or inhabited part of a rating unit as provided or implied in the relevant funding impact statement.
Despite any failure of the Council to comply with section 24 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002,—
the dates by which the specified amounts of the rates were to be paid are valid and declared to be and always have been lawfully specified by the Council as if the rates resolutions had included those dates (which appeared on the rates assessments and rates invoices for each applicable financial year); and
all actions of the Council in assessing and recovering the rates are valid and declared to be and to have always been lawful.
Despite any failure of the Council to comply with section 57 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002,—
all penalties added to the rates are valid and declared to be and to have always been lawfully imposed by the Council as if the rates resolutions had included those penalties (which appeared on the rates assessments and rates invoices for each applicable financial year); and
all actions of the Council in adding and recovering the penalties are valid and declared to be and to have always been lawful.
All money received by the Council in payment of the rates and any penalties paid in respect of those rates are to be treated as having been lawfully paid to, and received by, the Council.
Any part of the rates and any penalties payable in respect of those rates that have not been paid to the Council on or after the commencement of this Act—
are declared to be lawfully payable to the Council; and
may be recovered by the Council as if the rates or penalties had always been lawfully payable.
Despite any failure of the Council to comply with section 23 of the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002,—
the specified rates are valid and declared to be and to have always been lawfully set by the Council; and
all actions of the Council in setting, assessing, and recovering the specified rates are valid and declared to be and to have always been lawful.
To avoid doubt, sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 apply, with any necessary modifications, in respect of the specified rates.
s 4
7 May 2014
Introduction (Bill 204–1)
28 May 2014
First reading and referral to Local Government and Environment Committee
23 March 2015
Reported from Local Government and Environment Committee
1 April 2015
Second reading
6 May 2015
Committee of the whole House
3 June 2015
Third reading
5 June 2015
Royal assent