Local Government Reform Act 2014

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PART 5

Financial Provisions Consequential on Dissolutions and Provisions relating to Rates

Rates

29. (1) In this section—

“adjustment period”, in relation to a specified area, means a period referred to in subsection (7) within which the base year adjustment is operational;

“annual rate on valuation”, in relation to a year, means, subject to subsection (9), the rate determined by the local authority concerned as the rating authority pursuant to section 103(7)(b)(i) of the Principal Act;

“base year adjustment” means the adjustment, by way of discount or levy, receivable or payable under subsection (5) by ratepayers in a specified area during the adjustment period;

“specified area” means any area of a rating authority where a different annual rate on valuation to that determined for Year 1 of the adjustment period applied in the year immediately preceding Year 1;

“Year 1” means the first year of the adjustment period.

(2) A base year adjustment shall be determined in accordance with subsections (3) and (4) by a rating authority in respect of each year of the adjustment period for each of the specified areas of the rating authority.

(3) In respect of a specified area, the base year adjustment shall be calculated in Year 1 of the adjustment period, by the formula—

A - B

where

A is the annual rate on valuation in respect of the year immediately preceding Year 1 that is applicable in the specified area, and

B is the annual rate on valuation determined by the rating authority in Year 1 of the adjustment period applicable generally in the area of the rating authority.

(4) In respect of each year of the adjustment period subsequent to Year 1, the base year adjustment shall be adjusted separately for each specified area by the rating authority concerned, following consultation with municipal district members in that area, by reducing the discount or levy (as the case may be) referred to in subsection (5), incrementally each year, until it is eliminated.

(5) The base year adjustment applicable to a specified area shall be applied to rating bills issued to ratepayers in the specified area and shall operate as either a discount or levy (as the case may be) on the amount due calculated by reference to the annual rate on valuation.

(6) Subsection (5) applies to the levy provided for in respect of a property to which section 211B or 211E (inserted by the Local Government (Business Improvement Districts) Act 2006 ) of the Principal Act relates.

(7) Base year adjustments shall cease at the end of the adjustment period for each specified area, which period—

(a) shall not be greater than 10 years commencing with Year 1, but

(b) may, at the discretion of the rating authority concerned, be a shorter period in respect of any specified area within the administrative area of that rating authority,

and, accordingly, the adjustment period shall cease in respect of a specified area when the base year adjustment for that area has been eliminated or the period of 10 years referred to in paragraph (a) has elapsed, whichever first occurs.

(8) Notwithstanding subsection (7), where—

(a) in respect of a specified area the base year adjustment calculated in accordance with subsection (3) would result in a levy with a value greater than 20,

(b) the local authority concerned, following the adoption by it of a resolution for the purpose of this subsection—

(i) applies in writing to the Minister to make an order that the adjustment period applicable to such specified area may be greater than 10 years, and

(ii) such resolution and application states the length of the extension being sought (which extension so stated shall be in respect of a period not greater than 10 years),

and

(c) following consideration of the application under paragraph (b), the Minister determines that an extension should be granted,

then, the Minister may by order grant an extension, which extension may, if the Minister considers it appropriate in the circumstances but subject to it not being greater than 10 years, be different from that sought in the application referred to in paragraph (b) and, accordingly, in its application to that specified area, the reference to 10 years in subsection (7)(a) shall be read as if it were a reference to the sum of those 10 years and the extension provided for by that order.

(9) In respect of a rating authority to which this section relates, the annual rate on valuation determined by such rating authority in Year 1 of the adjustment period shall not be increased in subsequent years until the adjustment period ceases, as provided for by subsection (7), for every specified area within the administrative area of that authority.

(10) Notwithstanding subsection (9), it shall be lawful for the rating authority to determine an increase in the annual rate on valuation where—

(a) the adjustment period of a specified area in the administrative area of the rating authority has been the subject of an order under subsection (8), and

(b) the adjustment period applicable to all specified areas in the administrative area of the rating authority, other than any specified area that is the subject of an order under subsection (8), have ceased in accordance with subsection (7).

(11) Where a revaluation under the Valuation Act 2001 takes effect in a rating authority in any year after Year 1 of the adjustment period, the base year adjustment referred to in this section shall continue to be applied to relevant properties by means of a percentage discount or levy equivalent to the former base year adjustment as a percentage of the annual rate on valuation as determined by such rating authority in Year 1 of the adjustment period.

(12) This section does not apply to any rating authority where a revaluation under the Valuation Act 2001 takes effect in the first year of the adjustment period.

(13) The adjustment period referred to in this section shall commence on the first day of January in the year following the commencement of this section.