(2) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may under this section declare

to be a school tax area.

(3) Before an order is made under this section, the minister shall satisfy himself or herself, upon whatever evidence he or she considers adequate, that the making of the order meets with the approval of the school boards conducting, in the area which would be affected by the order, schools where the aggregate enrolment is at least 60% of the total enrolment of all schools in the affected area.

(2) There shall be appointed to the authority

(3) A person shall not be appointed a member of an authority while he or she holds an office or post under the authority to which salary or remuneration is attached that is payable out of the funds of the authority.

(4) The minister may

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(c), the number of alternate members for each school board or municipality shall be limited to 1/2 of the total of regular members representing that school board or municipality except in the case of an uneven number of regular members representing the school board or municipality, where the number of alternate members shall be limited to 1/2 of the total of regular members plus 1.

(6) All acts done by the authority shall, notwithstanding that it is afterward discovered that there was some defect in the appointment or qualification of a person as a member of the authority, be as valid as if that defect had not existed.

(2) Orders referred to in subsection (1) may be made with retroactive effect.

(3) The minister shall provide to the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs a copy of an order made under section 4 or section 5.

(2) The members of an authority shall hold office during pleasure.

(2) The chairperson and in his or her absence the vice-chairperson shall preside at all meetings of an authority and the chairperson's decision on all points of order is final.

(3) Where both the chairperson and vice-chairperson are absent from a meeting, the other members of the authority present at a meeting shall appoint a temporary chairperson who may exercise the powers and shall carry out the duties of the chairperson at the meeting.

(2) A disputed question other than a point of order shall be decided by a majority of the votes of the members of the authority present.

(3) Where there is an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting has a 2nd vote.

(2) A special meeting of an authority may be called at the time that the chairperson considers necessary and shall be called on the written request of 2 members of the authority.

(2) The secretary of an authority shall

(3) Where the office of secretary is vacant or the secretary is unable to carry on his or her duties, the authority may, subject to the approval of the minister, appoint a secretary to act in a temporary capacity and pay him or her a salary, and the secretary so appointed has and may exercise the powers and shall carry out the duties of a secretary under subsection (2).

(2) The minister may specify the amount for which an employee referred to in subsection (1) is to be bonded.

(3) The authority shall pay the premiums on bonds entered into under this section.

(4) The auditor shall during the course of each audit inspect the bonds entered into under this section and report on their sufficiency to the minister.

(5) An authority shall examine the bonds entered into under this section at a meeting to be held not later than May 15 in each year, and the chairperson shall, within 10 days after the meeting, report to the minister the names of employees who are bonded, the amount of each bond and the company which issued it.

(2) An extract from an assessment roll, record, book or document referred to in subsection (1) purporting to be certified by the secretary and having the seal of the authority attached to it may be filed and used in a court instead of the original and shall be received in evidence without proof of the seal or of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed the copy and without further proof unless the court otherwise directs.

(2) The budget referred to in subsection (1) shall be provided not later than November 1 in a financial year.

(2) Where the minister requires an authority to submit a revised budget under section 19, the minister may notify the authority that the approval given in respect of a budget previously submitted is withdrawn and in that case shall state the date upon which the withdrawal of the approval takes effect.

(2) Before the expiration of 2 months after the end of each financial year, the chairperson shall prepare an account, made up to the end of the financial year, setting out the income and expenditure of the authority during that year and a statement of the assets and liabilities of the authority at the end of that year, and the account shall be included in a report made to the minister under subsection (1).

(3) The chairperson and the secretary shall sign the account referred to in subsection (2), and the auditor shall certify the account, and the chairperson shall attach to the certificate a report which the auditor may have made to the authority.

(4) The authority shall publish, in the manner that it considers appropriate, the account and the certificate and report of the auditor referred to in subsection (3).

(2) An auditor appointed under this section may call for, and the authority shall supply, all books and vouchers of the authority which he or she considers necessary to enable the auditor properly to audit the accounts of the authority.

(3) Where an auditor has made an interim examination of the accounts of an authority during the course of the financial year, he or she shall submit a report to the chairperson and the minister.

(4) The auditor shall examine and report on the annual account referred to in subsection 22(2), and in the report shall direct attention to

(2) The minister may by order limit the amount that may be spent by an authority under this section in a year by way of remuneration and expenses, and where an order is made under this section it shall have the same effect in law as if it were expressly enacted in this Act.

(2) Notwithstanding section 34, the minister may, by order, direct that the school tax, whether or not imposed by an authority under subsection (1), be imposed after the date that may be specified in the order, according to 1 or both of the methods referred to in sections 26 and 28, and the school tax shall, after the date, be imposed by the authority according to 1 or both of the methods, and the order may specify a different method with respect to different areas within a tax area.

(3) An order made under subsection (2) shall have the same effect in law as if it were expressly enacted in this Act.

(2) The real property tax may be imposed in respect of 1 or more or all of the classes of real property in a tax area defined in subsection (3), and may be imposed in respect of any or all real property used for residential, industrial, or commercial purposes.

(3) In this section

(4) Where property is occupied and the owner is not known, the occupier of the property shall, for the purpose of the imposition and collection of the real property tax, be considered to be and shall be treated as the owner of the property.

(5) The tenant of property which is not subject to the real property tax shall, where rent or other valuable consideration is paid by the tenant in respect of that property, be liable to pay the real property tax, as if he or she were the owner of the property and the property were subject to that tax.

(6) Where property is under the control of a person as executor, administrator, trustee, guardian or agent, that person is liable for the payment of the real property tax only in his or her representative capacity.

(7) Where the owner of property is an infant, the person whose name has been entered on an assessment roll prepared under an existing assessment made in accordance with section 33 as the parent, guardian or other legal representative of the owner is liable for the payment of the real property tax where the owner defaults in the payment.

is not subject to the real property tax.

(2) A council of a municipality situated within a tax area, or part of it, shall make available to the authority, where requested by the authority to do so, a list of all persons specified in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b) where a municipal service fee or similar fee or tax is imposed under the Municipalities Act or another Act conferring power to impose the fee or tax upon the persons, companies or firms referred to in those paragraphs.

(3) A natural person liable for the school tax in another tax area is exempt from a poll tax imposed under paragraph (1)(b).

(2) An employer of a person subject to the payment of the school tax shall deduct the school tax from the wages of that person in equal instalments and shall forward the money collected to the authority within the time limit specified by the authority.

(3) An employee who is exempt from the school tax may obtain a certificate to that effect from the secretary of the authority, and the employer shall not deduct the school tax from the wages of that employee.

(4) Where money is deducted from the wages of an employee and forwarded to an authority under subsection (2), that authority shall give a receipt to the employer forwarding it, and the receipt constitutes a full and valid discharge of the liability of that employer to pay the money to the employee concerned.

(5) Subsections (1), (2) and (3) of this section are binding on the Crown.

(2) An investigator may at reasonable times enter the business premises of an employer referred to in subsection (1) for the purpose referred to in that subsection and may demand the production of and inspect the payroll records referred to in that subsection, and a person occupying or in charge of the premises shall produce for inspection the records that the investigator may require and, upon demand of the investigator, prepare and deliver copies or extracts of them.

(3) Where an action or proceeding is taken against an investigator for anything done by him or her under this Act, and the court before which the action or proceeding is taken is satisfied that there was probable cause for the action of that investigator and that it was not malicious, a verdict or judgment shall not be given against the investigator for damages.

(2) Where the school tax is imposed according to both of the methods prescribed by sections 26 and 28, a person who has paid the tax imposed under section 26 in a financial year shall not be liable to pay the tax imposed under section 28 in that financial year.

(3) Where the school tax is imposed in a tax area according to the method prescribed in section 28, a person referred to in paragraph (a) of that section shall not be liable to pay the poll tax in that tax area, solely because of his or her employment there.

(4) A person referred to in paragraph 28(a) who lived in a tax area for a period of less than 3 months in a financial year shall not be liable to pay the poll tax imposed under that section in respect of that financial year.

(5) Where a person lives during a financial year in more than 1 tax area where the poll tax is imposed under section 28, that person shall pay the poll tax imposed in each tax area and the amount of tax payable shall be pro-rated according to the time of residence in each tax area calculated in months.

(2) The owner of real property that is subject to an assessment under the Assessment Act or the St. John's Assessment Act is liable for the payment of real property tax on the basis of the supplementary assessment for the portion of the current financial year of the authority remaining as from the 1st day of the month following the date of occupancy or from the beginning of the financial year, whichever is the lesser period.

(3) Where property is subject to a supplementary assessment under the Assessment Act or the St. John's Assessment Act and an appeal is taken under that Act against the supplementary assessment, the real property tax shall, pending a decision in that appeal, be payable on the basis of the supplementary assessment, and the difference between the amount of the tax collected on that basis and the amount payable on the basis of the assessment as later determined by an Assessment Review Commission on the appeal, shall be paid by the owner or refunded by the authority, according to the decision in the appeal, when that decision has been made.

(2) A school tax once imposed continues to be payable from year to year until the order imposing it is revoked or varied, but section 35 applies to a variation by which the school tax is increased.

(2) In the 1st financial year of an authority a school tax that is imposed during the period of 90 days immediately following the appointment of the full membership of the authority shall take effect from the beginning of that financial year, but the school tax for that financial year shall bear the same proportion to the full annual school tax as that financial year bears to 12 calendar months.

(3) Where the area of a tax area is increased under section 4, this Act and the school tax imposed before the date of the increase of the area and still in force shall, subject to an order made under section 25, come into effect in the increased area from a date, not earlier than the beginning of the current financial year of the authority, to be fixed by order of the minister, and where it does not come into effect at the beginning of the current financial year of the authority, it shall be payable proportionally with respect to the portion of the financial year covered by it.

(4) An order made under subsection (3) shall be published in the Gazette within 1 month after the date it is made.

(5) A portion of a school tax is not refundable by reason only that the area of a tax area is decreased.

(2) An authority may, in a minute of the authority made under section 34, prescribe

and the school tax shall become due on the date prescribed by an authority under this subsection.

(2) In an action under this Act in which it is necessary to show that a school tax was imposed or varied and that the approval referred to in subsection (1) was given, a copy of the minute of the authority signed by the secretary of the authority imposing or varying the tax and a letter signed by the minister certifying that the approval was given are, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that the tax was imposed or varied and the approval was given.

(2) The secretary of an authority, upon payment of an amount determined by the authority of not less than $1, shall provide a certificate showing the amount of taxes owing on real property to a prospective mortgagee or purchaser or his or her solicitor, which is binding as between the authority and the person obtaining the certificate.

(3) Where a debtor to an authority for taxes holds real property under a building lease and the property reverts to the ground landlord other than by the expiry of the term of years created by the lease, all taxes payable by the tenant previously unpaid or accrued due to the authority shall attach upon that property in the hands of the landlord up to the value of the tenant's interest.

(4) It shall be considered to be a condition of all mortgages of real property situated within a tax area that the mortgagee may pay money owing to the authority and unpaid in respect of the mortgaged property, and the reimbursement of the mortgagee for all the money so paid by him or her shall, from the date of the execution of the mortgage, be considered to have been secured by the mortgage in addition to the principal sum originally so secured, in the same manner, with the same priority and with the same effect as the principal sum, notwithstanding a clause or condition to the contrary contained in the mortgage.

(5) For the purpose of enforcing the lien or charge given in favour of the authority by this section, the authority may proceed by foreclosure in the same manner as if the authority held a mortgage on the real property to which the lien or charge attaches, which ranks in priority to all other encumbrances on the property whether registered or unregistered.

(2) The secretary of the authority shall serve on a tenant referred to in subsection (1) a signed notice in writing requiring the tenant to pay the rent to the authority instead of to his or her landlord and the tenant shall from the date on which he or she received the notice until the secretary cancels the written notice pay to the authority the rent, or so much of it as the secretary specifies in the notice, and a receipt signed by the secretary is to the extent of the payment a good discharge to the tenant as against a claim by the landlord for rent.

(3) The secretary shall deliver or mail to the landlord a duplicate copy of the notice served under subsection (2) on or before the date of service of the notice on the tenant.

(4) Where a landlord disputes the correctness of the amount claimed by the authority as stated in the notice served under subsection (2), the landlord shall immediately give written particulars of his or her objections to the secretary, and, where the dispute cannot be settled by the secretary and the landlord, the secretary shall cancel the notice to the tenant and immediately sue the landlord for the amount due to the authority by the landlord.

(5) The secretary shall deliver or mail to the landlord a duplicate copy of a receipt given to the tenant under subsection (2).

(6) The secretary shall credit against the indebtedness of the landlord to the authority payments made by a tenant under subsection (2) and the authority is not obliged to release the tenant from liability to continue making payments to the authority under subsection (2) until the landlord's liability has been completely discharged, and the authority has no liability to the landlord.

(7) An authority may distrain on a tenant's chattels for rent in arrears, but is not obliged to do so, and, where the authority refuses to distrain, the landlord may do so upon giving security to the satisfaction of the authority for payment to it of the proceeds of the distress or so much as is required to discharge the liability of the landlord to the authority for the real property tax.

(2) The minister may order an authority to withhold from the money raised by it during a period prescribed under subsection (1) for a financial year a specified sum for the payment of salaries and expenses pending the next collection of the school tax.

(3) An authority shall, within 45 days immediately following the expiration of each of the periods prescribed under subsection (1), apportion to each school board in the appropriate tax area from all the money raised by the authority under this Act and not previously apportioned and distributed, an amount bearing the same ratio to the total of all the money that the total enrolment at the schools conducted in the tax area by that school board bears to the total enrolment at all schools in the tax area.

(4) The enrolment to be taken into account for the purposes of subsection (3) shall be the enrolment in respect of that period shown by certificates issued and provided by school boards in accordance with section 46, and the authority shall, in accordance with the provisions of and regulations made under section 48, pay the amounts so apportioned to the school board.

(5) An authority may, by a minute of the authority, declare that children whose parents or guardians are living outside of the appropriate tax area and are not liable to pay a school tax to that authority shall not be counted for the purposes of the apportionment and distribution to school boards in that tax area of money raised by the authority under this Act, and from the effective date of the minute all the money shall be apportioned and distributed to those schools in accordance with the directions contained in the minute.

(6) Where a minute of an authority has been passed in accordance with subsection (5), a school board in the appropriate tax area that is eligible to receive an apportionment and distribution of money under this Act shall, on request of that authority, provide to the authority a report showing the names of all pupils attending its schools in respect of whom the apportionment and distribution is claimed and the address of the residence of the parent or guardian of the pupils.

(7) In apportioning and distributing money raised under this Act, all schools shall be taken into account that have been conducted in the tax area concerned during the period in respect of which the apportionment and distribution are made or during a part of that period.

(2) A school board in the appropriate tax area shall, within 30 days after the expiration of a period prescribed in accordance with subsection 45(1), forward to the authority concerned a certificate signed by the chairperson of the school board showing the total enrolment during the appropriate month in a school in respect of which money is payable by the authority, and the total enrolment for the appropriate month shall be determined by the school board

(3) For the purposes of subparagraph (2)(a)(ii), where there are less than 6 classrooms in a school and that school is a feeder school in the system of a regional high school or a central high school and that feeder school and all other schools in the system, including the regional high school or central high school, have in total not less than 6 classrooms, a pupil who has or will have reached the age of 5 years on or before December 31 in the school year in which the appropriate month occurs may be counted.

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) may be made with retroactive effect to a date stated in the regulations, which shall not be before the beginning of the financial year, under section 16, in which the regulations are published in the Gazette.

(2) A school board receiving money from an authority shall, before October 2 in each year, submit to that authority a budget containing estimates of all sums required during the next financial year of the authority for all purposes of the school board, and each budget shall set out the estimated revenue and expenditure in the detail and in the form that the minister prescribes, and, where the budget is not submitted to that authority in accordance with this subsection, no distribution of money shall be made under section 45 to the school board concerned after the date that the budget should have been submitted until the budget is submitted to that authority.

(2) Where a person has been convicted under subsection (1) for failing to pay a tax, the court shall, when imposing sentence, also order that person to pay the amount of the tax.

(2) A council appointed under subsection (1) has and may exercise, in all that part of the tax area in respect of which it was appointed, all of the powers delegated to it by the minister under that subsection, whether the tax area or a part of it is within or outside the municipality in which the council exercises jurisdiction.

(2) An order made by the minister under this section shall be entered in the books of the authority and shall have effect as if it were a resolution of the authority except that it may not be revised or varied by the authority without the written consent of the minister.

(2) Each day's continuance of the contravention of this Act or requirements or obligations imposed under this Act or an order or regulation made under this Act constitutes a separate offence.

(2) A fine and penalty recovered shall be forwarded by the court imposing it to the Department of Justice for payment to the credit of the authority to which it relates.