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Rates & fees

Rates & fees

Rates are the main way residents fund the council. Each year an independent regulator (IPART) sets a 'rate peg' — the maximum percentage the council can lift its total rates income. Here's the current figure, how it compares across NSW, and the things that actually change your bill.

New to these terms? Read them in plain English
Rate peg
The cap on how much a council's TOTAL rates income can rise this year.
Core peg
The rate peg before the population top-up — the part driven by rising costs.
Population factor
An extra slice of the rate peg for fast-growing councils.
Special Rate Variation (SRV)
Permission for a council to raise rates by more than the peg.
Land valuation
Your land's value, set by the state, used to split the rates bill between properties.
Pensioner rebate
A discount on rates for eligible pensioners.
Domestic waste charge
A separate annual fee for your bins — NOT part of the rate peg.
IPART
Sets the rate peg and reviews council pricing.
See the full explainer, with formulas →
4.2%Set by IPART — a core rate peg of 4.2% (3.6% base component plus ESL and election-cost adjustments) with no population-factor addition.
3.8%IPART's rate peg for Bellingen for 2026–27 — a core rate peg of 3.8%, again with no population-factor addition.
~$1,592 / year (2024–25)About 32% above the NSW average of ~$1,203 (OLG data).
Past special rate variation
One-off 2023–24 SRV, approved 15 June 2023IPART approved a special rate variation of about 8% (inclusive of that year's ~4.5% rate peg, so roughly a 3.5-percentage-point increase above the peg). This was a single-year approval, not a current or ongoing variation — the 2025–26 and 2026–27 figures above are the standard rate peg only.
What the peg caps
Total rates income — not your billIt doesn't cap the domestic waste charge, which is separate.
Overdue interest (2025–26)
10.5% per annumA NSW-wide statutory maximum set annually by the state government under the Local Government Act, applied by every council to overdue rates instalments.
Concessions
Eligible pensioners can receive a rebateCheck eligibility with the council.

The rate peg limits the council's total rates income, not each household's bill. How your individual rates change depends mostly on how your land value moved relative to other properties at the latest revaluation. Bellingen had a one-off special rate variation approved for 2023–24; we found no record of a current or ongoing SRV beyond the standard rate peg — confirm on the council and IPART sources below.

Sources — check it yourself

Figures are current as at the dates shown and may change — always confirm with the linked source. See the notice at the bottom of the page for full details and how to report a correction.