BILL 17

 

An Act to Amend the Assessment Act

 

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:

 

1                   The Assessment Act, chapter A-14 of the Revised Statutes, 1973, is amended in section 1 by adding the following definition in alphabetical order:

 

"owner-occupied residence" means a building used as a self-contained domestic establishment occupied by the owner and containing necessary facilities for sleeping and the preparation and serving of meals and as further defined by regulation;

 

2                   The Act is amended by adding after section 7.2 the following:

 

7.3(1)           The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations

 

(a)          under section 1, respecting the definition "owner-occupied residence"; and

 

(b)          prescribing an owner-occupied residence assessment relief program.

 

7.3(2)           An owner-occupied residence assessment relief program prescribed under paragraph (1)(b) shall establish an annual allowable increase in the assessment of owner-occupied residences that shall not exceed three percent of the amount of the previous year's assessment.

 

7.3(3)           A regulation under paragraph (1)(b) shall be retroactive in its operation to January 1, 2007.

 

3                   This Act comes into force on a day to be fixed by proclamation.