Municipal Rates, Labour Relations Acts approved

President Jacob Zuma has signed into law the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Amendment Act.

The Act seeks to:

• Regulate the categories of property in respect of which rates may be levied;
• Regulate the time frames of publication of the resolutions levying rates and what must be contained in the promulgated resolution;
• Provide for the exclusion from the rates of certain categories of public service infrastructure;
• Give powers to a municipality to levy different rates on vacant land;
• Give power to the MEC of Local Government to extend the period of validity of a valuation roll by additional two years;
• Amend the dates on which a supplementary valuation takes effect; and
• Address the problems that have been experienced in the implementation of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act, 2004.