BILL NO. 129

(as introduced)

2nd Session, 58th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
51 Elizabeth II, 2002

Government Bill

Assessment Act (amended) and
Municipal Grants Act (amended)

The Honourable Angus MacIsaac
Minister of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations

First Reading: May 2, 2002

(Explanatory Notes)

Second Reading: May 9, 2002

Third Reading: May 30, 2002 (WITH COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS)

Clauses 1 and 2 amend the Assessment Act to ensure that all structures are assessable property and that all structures that shelter are subject to business occupancy assessment.

Clause 3 permits retroactive regulations respecting the calculation of the market value of a pipeline.

Clause 4 allows for changes in the calculation in the Municipal Grants Act of the uniform assessment where there are major decreases in assessments in prior years because of assessment appeals.

Clause 5 gives retroactive effect to Clauses 1 and 2.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Subsection 2(1) of Chapter 23 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Assessment Act, as amended by Chapter 19 of the Acts of 1990, Chapter 18 of the Acts of 1998 and Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2000, is further amended by adding immediately after clause (t) the following clauses:

(ta) "shelter" means to protect from the elements, from injury or from escape or to provide refuge from the weather, danger, attack, pursuit, interference or observation, notwithstanding, where a structure actually provides shelter, that the purpose of the structure may not be to shelter its contents;

(u) "structure" means an improvement consisting of one or more component parts that are affixed to or permanently resting upon land or buildings and that enhance the value of the land or buildings or improve their usefulness for the purposes for which they are used and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes all fixtures and attachments necessary to operate the improvement, all haulage, labour, engineering and overheads and any franchise or franchise right;

2 Section 11 of Chapter 23 is amended by adding immediately after subsection (1) the following subsection:

(1A) Notwithstanding subsection (1), all fixtures and attachments necessary to operate structures that provide shelter shall be assessed for a sum to be called business occupancy assessment.

3 Section 179A of Chapter 23, as enacted by Chapter 9 of the Acts of 2000, is amended by adding "(1)" immediately after the Section number and adding the following subsection:

(2) Regulations made pursuant to subsection (1) may be made retroactive to January 1, 2000, or such later date as those regulations specify.

4 Section 14 of Chapter 302 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Municipal Grants Act, as amended by Chapter 35 of the Acts of 2001, is further amended by adding immediately after subsection (5) the following subsection:

(6) Where

(a) the total assessed value of a person's properties in a municipality included in the uniform assessment of the municipality for a taxation year, including any business occupancy assessments calculated with respect to the properties, is reduced as a result of assessment appeals by an amount that is three per cent or more of the municipality's uniform assessment that was calculated using that value; and

(b) all assessment appeals by that person respecting the properties included in that value have been determined or abandoned, including any appeals from those determinations,

the uniform assessment for the area that is the municipality shall be calculated to reflect the reduction by deducting the amount of the reduction related to the earliest taxation year so long as

(c) the amount has not already been deducted in calculating the municipality's uniform assessment for this or a previous taxation year;

(d) reductions related to different taxation years are deducted in successive taxation years to ensure that the uniform assessment is only reduced for one taxation year for any one person assessed; and

(e) the assessment appeals are determined or abandoned on or after the first day of November, 2001.

5 Sections 1 and 2 have effect on and after January 1, 1999.