South Australian Current Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1999 - SECT 161

161—Rebate of rates—community services

        (1)         The rates on land being predominantly used for service delivery or administration (or both) by a community service organisation will be rebated at 75 per cent (or, at the discretion of the council, at a higher rate).

        (2)         If—

            (a)         a community service organisation is entitled to a rebate of rates under subsection (1); and

            (b)         the council has declared differential rates according to the use of land and thus provided for a distinct residential rate,

then that residential rate must be applied to the land to which the rebate relates.

        (3)         For the purposes of this section, a community services organisation is a body that—

            (a)         is incorporated on a not-for-profit basis for the benefit of the public; and

            (b)         provides community services without charge or for a charge that is below the cost to the body of providing the services; and

            (c)         does not restrict its services to persons who are members of the body.

        (4)         For the purposes of subsection (3)—

            (a)         a body will not be regarded as incorporated on a not-for-profit basis—

                  (i)         if a principal or subsidiary object of the body is—

                        (A)         to secure a pecuniary profit for the members of the body or any of them; or

                        (B)         to engage in trade or commerce; or

                  (ii)         if the constitution or rules of the body provide that the surplus assets of the body on a winding-up are to be distributed to its members or to another body that does not have identical or similar aims or objects;

            (b)         subject to the operation of paragraph (a), a body that receives funds from the State or Commonwealth Governments in order to subsidise its costs or charges will be taken to satisfy the requirements of subsection (3)(b);

            (c)         any of the following are community services:

                  (i)         the provision of emergency accommodation;

                  (ii)         the provision of food or clothing for disadvantaged persons;

                  (iii)         the provision of supported accommodation;

                  (iv)         the provision of essential services, or employment support, for persons with mental health disabilities, or with intellectual or physical disabilities;

                  (v)         the provision of legal services for disadvantaged persons;

                  (vi)         the provision of drug or alcohol rehabilitation services;

                  (vii)         the conduct of research into, or the provision of community education about, diseases or illnesses, or the provision of palliative care to persons who suffer from diseases or illnesses;

            (d)         disadvantaged persons are persons who are disadvantaged by reason of poverty, illness, frailty, or mental, intellectual or physical disability.