This Act may be cited as the Auckland War Memorial Museum Maintenance Act 1979.

Except as provided in section 5(7) of this Act, this Act shall come into force on the 1st day of January 1980.

Subject to the provisions of subsection (9) of this section, the Council administering and governing the affairs of the Auckland War Memorial Museum (hereinafter referred to as “the Council” except where the context otherwise requires) may, for each financial year beginning on the 1st day of April, for the purposes of the management, maintenance, support, and development of the Museum, by resolution make a levy against all the local authorities set out in the Schedule to this Act (hereinafter respectively referred to as “the contributing authorities” and as “the Schedule”) of such amount and in such manner as is authorised or is required by this Act.

For the purposes of this section—

An adjustment of the capital value of rateable property and of the population of the district of each contributing authority, each calculated as aforesaid, shall be made by multiplying that capital value and that population by the differential factor shown opposite the name of each contributing authority in the Schedule.

The total amount of the levy against each contributing authority shall not exceed in any year 1/225c in the dollar on the total capital value of rateable property in its district (adjusted as aforesaid) plus 2.5c per person of the population of its district (adjusted as aforesaid):

Provided that if a contributing authority in Groups 2, 3, or 4 of the Schedule operates a museum in its district and employs full time professional staff therein at a salary level corresponding with or above the top level of Scientist 2 on the Government Scale (or such other scale as may replace it), then, in each year during which it is so operated, the levy payable by that contributing authority shall be reduced by 25 percent if 1 such person is employed in that year, by 50 percent if 2 such persons are so employed, and by 75 percent if 3 or more such persons are so employed. In order to qualify for such reduction the membership of the staff shall be maintained at the figure claimed for a minimum period of 9 months in that year, and the senior executive officer of the contributing authority claiming the reduction shall, if called upon by the Council, verify the grounds upon which the claim is based by statutory declaration.

Whereas in fixing the differential factor for each contributing authority in Group 4 of the Schedule, a basic figure of.40 has in each case been taken, and this has then been reduced to the figure set out therein by bringing into account the distance by road that its principal office is away from the Central Post Office at Auckland: in the event that the office of a contributing authority in that Group is moved from its present site the levy payable by it in each of the succeeding years after it has been moved shall be increased or reduced, as the case may be, by adding to or subtracting from the factor shown opposite its name a figure representing.0015 for each kilometre involved in the move:

Provided always that the differential factor shall not in any case be reduced below.05.

The Council shall, in the resolution referred to in sub-section (1) of this section, fix the amount to be levied against each of the contributing authorities, and a copy of the resolution shall be forwarded to each of the contributing authorities on or before the 31st day of May in the year in respect of which the levy is made. The relevant amount so levied shall be due and payable by each local authority on the 30th day of June next following, and it may at the option of the contributing authority be paid out of its general funds, or out of the proceeds of a rate as provided for in section 3 of this Act.

In the event that the district of a contributing authority is altered as the result of the total or partial absorption thereof by any other local authority (whether or not that local authority is a contributing authority) or as the result of the contributing authority absorbing the whole or part of the district of any other local authority (whether or not that local authority is a contributing authority) or as the result of the amalgamation of a contributing authority with any other local authority (whether or not that local authority is a contributing authority) or as the result of the division of a contributing authority into 2 or more local authorities, the area that was hitherto subject to a levy in terms of this Act shall continue to be so subject, but upon the terms and conditions following:

Notwithstanding anything in the provisions of this section, the Council may, in any year or years, remit any part of the levy, not exceeding 25 percent thereof, that otherwise would have been payable by a contributing authority in the said Groups 2, 3, or 4, if, in the Council’s opinion, the amount of the levy would in all the circumstances impose an unreasonable burden upon that contributing authority, but the provisions of this subsection shall not apply in the case of a contributing authority which has established a museum and which is entitled to a reduction in its levy pursuant to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section. Without in any way limiting the circumstances to be taken into account by the Council in exercising the said discretion, it is hereby declared that a relevant factor shall be the cost incurred by the contributing authority in establishing and maintaining a local museum of its own.

The Council shall not make any levy in terms of this section until its proposals in that behalf have been endorsed by resolution of a Special Committee of members of the Council, the majority of whom shall be drawn from the persons appointed or elected to the Council under section 5 of this Act.

In addition to any other rate which it is authorised to make, a contributing authority may from time to time strike a rate in its district (or in the part of its district subject to the levy) to be known as the War Memorial Museum rate, for the purpose of providing its contribution payable to the Council in terms of this Act, and the provisions of the Local Government Act 1974 and of the Rating Act 1967 shall apply to any such rate.

As a means of providing additional revenue for the purposes described in section 2(1) of this Act, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act or document, the Council is hereby empowered, and shall be deemed always to have been empowered, to establish, maintain, and operate, or to grant licences to operate, upon such terms and conditions as it thinks fit, a shop, planetarium, tearoom and restaurant, or any 1 or more of them in the Museum, and to arrange or hold special exhibitions, functions, or lectures therein and to make charges or authorise charges to be made for the use of, or admission to, the same.

Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorising the Council to undertake or permit any activity that would detract from the basic principle that the Museum shall be a War Memorial open to everyone free of an admission charge.

The contributing authorities shall be entitled to representation on the Council in the manner following—

The appointments and elections referred to in sub-section (1) of this section shall be completed within 5 months after each triennial general election.

The contributing authorities may at any time, at the request of any one or more of them, consider any alteration to the allocation among them of appointments to the Council (including any alteration to the total number of such appointments) and, if they all agree, may from time to time, having regard to the population and adjusted capital value of their districts and also to the amounts of any levies made by the Council on the several contributing authorities, alter that allocation by notice in writing to the Council.

In having regard, pursuant to subsection (3) of this section, to the adjusted capital value and population of each district or combination of districts, the contributing authorities shall have regard to the adjusted capital value and to the population as at the immediately preceding 31st day of March.

If, on that consideration, the contributing authorities do not all agree, the Secretary of the Council shall refer the matter to the Local Government Commission, which shall duly consider and determine the matter.

Subject to section 37A of the Local Government Act 1974, the determination of the Local Government Commission shall be final, and the allocation of appointments shall be implemented accordingly.

The provisions of this section shall come into force on the date of the triennial general election to be held in October 1980 in accordance with the requirements of the Local Elections and Polls Act 1976, and until that date representation on the Council shall, notwithstanding its repeal, continue to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Maintenance Amendment Act 1963.

The following provisions shall apply with respect to every election by contributing authorities pursuant to section 5(1)(d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) of this Act:

Every member of the Council appointed or elected under this section shall come into office on the day following that on which he is appointed or elected.

A member of the Council shall vacate his office if he ceases to be a member of the contributing authority from which he derived his qualification.

A member of the Council, whether appointed or elected, may at any time resign his office by notice in writing addressed to the Secretary of the Council, but every such member shall continue to hold office until his successor has been appointed or elected.

Every extraordinary vacancy within the meaning of section 2 of the Local Elections and Polls Act 1976 shall be filled in the same manner as in the case of the vacating member, and the member appointed or elected to fill any such vacancy shall hold office for the residue of the term of the vacating member only:

Provided that where any such vacancy occurs within 6 months before the date fixed for the next triennial general election, the Councils of the contributing authorities affected by that vacancy may, by resolution passed by all of them, determine that the vacancy shall not be filled and in that case no appointment shall be made or no election shall be held to fill that vacancy or any other existing extraordinary vacancy.

The Council is hereby declared to be a statutory board within the meaning of the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act 1951.

The Council may pay to the President and to the members of the Council remuneration by way of fees, salary or allowances and may meet or reimburse them for travelling allowances or travelling expenses in accordance with the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act 1951, and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly.

The provisions of this section shall apply to all members of the Council whether they have been appointed thereto under the provisions of this Act or by other lawful means.

The Council may in every financial year expend for purposes not authorised by any Act or law for the time being in force any sum or sums not amounting in the whole to more than 1 percent of the gross receipts of the Council for that year, nor in any case to more than $2,000.

The Council shall be deemed to be a local authority for the purposes of Part II of the Local Authorities Loans Act 1956 but not otherwise.

Part II of the First Schedule to the Local Authorities (Members’ Interests) Act 1968 is hereby amended by inserting in its appropriate alphabetical order the following item:

The Council shall be deemed to be a local authority for the purposes of the National Provident Fund Act 1950 and section 6 of the Finance Act (No. 2) 1941.

The Audit Office shall be the auditor of the Council, and it shall have the same duties and powers in respect of the moneys and accounts of the Council and of every person dealing therewith as if the Council were a local authority within the meaning of section 2 of the Public Finance Act 1977.

As soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year, the Council shall prepare a balance sheet and such other statements of account as are necessary to show fully the financial position of the Council at the end of that year and the financial results of its operations during the year.

The following enactments are hereby repealed: