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Public Works Act 1981

General provisions

231: Money due by local authority may be deducted from money payable by Government

You could also call this:

“Government can take money owed by local councils from payments it makes to them”

If the government owes money to a local authority, but the local authority also owes money to the government under this law or an older Public Works Act, the Minister of Finance can take some or all of the money the local authority owes from the money the government was going to pay to the local authority. This can include money like subsidies that the government usually gives to local authorities.

If there’s still money left that the local authority owes after doing this, any Minister of the Crown can still try to get the rest of the money from the local authority. They can do this by taking the local authority to court.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM48359.

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Part 21 General provisions

231Money due by local authority may be deducted from money payable by Government

  1. In all cases where under this Act, or any former Public Works Act, any money is authorised to be recovered from any local authority as a debt due to the Crown, the Minister of Finance may deduct the money or any portion of it from any subsidies or other money (if any) that may be payable by or on behalf of the Crown from time to time to the local authority under any law for the time being in force, but without prejudice to the right of any Minister of the Crown to recover the unsatisfied balance (if any) of the debt from the local authority as a debt due to the Crown in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Compare
  • 1928 No 21 s 332
Notes
  • Section 231: amended, on , by section 75 of the Public Works Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 43).