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IMPORTANT INFORMATION |
1 In this Act:
"assessment" has the same meaning as in the Assessment Act;
"assessment roll" includes a supplementary assessment roll;
"authority" means the British Columbia Assessment Authority continued under this Act;
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"minister" includes a person designated in writing by the minister;
"property" includes land and improvements as defined in the Assessment Act;
"Union of British Columbia Municipalities" means the corporation incorporated by Act under that name.
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3 (1) The corporation known as the "British Columbia Assessment Authority" is continued consisting of the
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(5) The Business Corporations Act does not apply to the authority, but the Lieutenant Governor in Council may direct that certain provisions of that Act apply to the authority.
4 (1) The head office of the authority must be in the Capital Regional District.
(2) The
5 The authority may, for the purposes of this Act,
(a) acquire, hold and dispose of property, and
(b) with the prior approval of the minister, borrow money on the credit of the authority and give security.
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6 (1) The
(2) A majority of the
7 Bylaws and resolutions of the authority must be passed by a majority of the votes of the
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9 The purpose of the authority is to establish and maintain assessments that are uniform in the whole of British Columbia in accordance with the Assessment Act.
10 For its purposes the authority has the following powers and duties:
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(b) to divide British Columbia into the number of assessment areas it considers advisable;
(c) to develop and maintain programs for the education, training and technical or professional development of assessors, appraisers and other persons qualified in property assessment matters;
(d) to prescribe and maintain standards of education, training and technical or professional competence for assessors, appraisers and other persons employed or engaged in property assessment, and to require compliance with these standards;
(e) if considered advisable, to authorize the officers or employees to perform technical or professional services, other than those required under the Assessment Act, and to set and charge fees for those services;
(f) to ensure that the general public is adequately informed respecting procedures relating to property assessment in British Columbia;
(g) to exercise and carry out other powers and duties that may be required to carry out its purpose, or as may be required under any other Act or order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
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(3) Out of its money, the authority must pay the remuneration required under this section, and all other costs and expenses incurred in the administration of this Act.
(4) The Public Service Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act do not apply to a person appointed under this section.
14 The Labour Relations Code applies to employees under this Act.
16 (1) The minister charged with the administration of the Financial Administration Act may direct the Comptroller General to examine and report to the Treasury Board on any or all of the financial and accounting operations of the authority.
(2) The fiscal year of the authority ends on December 3l in each year.
(3) Unless the Auditor General is appointed in accordance with the Auditor General Act as the auditor of the authority, the authority must appoint an auditor to audit the accounts of the authority at least once each year.
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17 (1) The authority must establish and maintain an operating fund, being the total amount required to meet the annual operating and capital expenses of the authority.
(2) With the prior approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the authority must, by bylaw in each year, levy a tax on the net taxable value of all land and improvements, but excluding property that is taxable for school purposes only by special Act, in British Columbia at rates sufficient to maintain the operating fund under this Act.
(3) In determining the rates of taxation to be levied under subsection (2) the authority must take into account the amount of the annual operating grant appropriated for the purposes of the authority by the Legislature.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2), the definition of "land" and the definition of "improvements" in the Assessment Act apply.
(5) Each year before December 31, the minister may submit a requisition to the authority for the amount required to cover the anticipated costs to the government, for its next fiscal year, of complaints and appeals under the Assessment Act to the property assessment review panels and the property assessment appeal board.
(6) Subject to subsection (7), the authority must pay the amount requisitioned under subsection (5) to the government in quarterly installments, with the first instalment due on June 30 in the year for which the requisition is made.
(7) The minister may require the authority to adjust the final instalment for a fiscal year such that the total amounts paid for the fiscal year cover the actual costs of the complaints and appeals referred to in subsection (5) for that fiscal year.
(8) An amount requisitioned under subsection (5), as adjusted under subsection (7), is deemed to be part of the annual operating and capital expenses of the authority for the purposes of this section.
18 (1) In this section:
"property class" means a class of property prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under section 19 of the Assessment Act;
"variable tax rate system" means a system under which individual tax rates are determined and imposed for each property class.
(2) Where the authority sets rates under section 17, it must adopt a variable tax rate system.
(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations in respect of the variable tax rate system as follows:
(a) prescribing limits on tax rates;
(b) prescribing relationships between tax rates;
(c) prescribing formulas for calculating the limits or relationships referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b).
19 Sections 130, 131 and 132 to 134 of the School Act apply for assessment and taxation purposes under section 17 (2) and (3) of this Act.
20 (1) On or before April 15 in each year, the authority must forward to the tax collector of every municipality in British Columbia and to the Surveyor of Taxes a copy of the bylaw of the authority imposing the taxes under this Act.
(2) On receipt of a copy of the bylaw, the tax collector of each municipality or the Surveyor of Taxes, as the case may be, must have the taxes levied placed on the tax roll.
(3) The proceeds of the taxes levied and collected must be paid to the authority by the municipality or the minister charged with the administration of the Financial Administration Act, as the case may be, before August 1 in the year the tax was levied.
(4) On or before February 1 in each year, the amount received by the Surveyor of Taxes or the tax collector in a municipality by way of grant in lieu of taxes under the Payments in Lieu of Taxes Act (Canada) from the government of Canada or from a corporation included in Schedule III or IV of that Act in the immediately preceding calendar year must be paid to the authority in an amount attributable to the portion of the grant that is received for authority purposes.
(5) Until receipt of the proceeds of the taxes, the authority may borrow an amount not exceeding the proceeds of the taxes, from the consolidated revenue fund or from a bank, trust company or credit union approved by the minister charged with the administration of the Financial Administration Act, and the loan must be repaid from the proceeds of the taxes.
(6) If a municipality fails to pay the proceeds of the taxes as required by subsection (3), it is liable to pay to the authority, beginning on August 1 in the year the taxes were levied, interest on the amount not paid at the rate prescribed under subsection (7).
(7) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation, establish a rate of interest for the purpose of subsection (6).
22 (1) If requested, an employee of the government or a municipality must cooperate with the authority and supply to it any information respecting assessment that it may request.
(2) Despite any other Act, an assessment roll of the government or a municipality must be prepared and completed in accordance with this Act and the regulations or direction of the
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23 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.
(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may authorize the authority to make regulations.
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