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Rates & fees

Rates & fees

Rates are one of the ways 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. Cobar strikes its ordinary rates across four categories the Local Government Act allows — Residential, Business, Farmland and Mining — and sub-categorises Residential into Cobar, Village and Rural Residential, and Business into General, Cobar CBD and Village. Here's the current peg, what your bill is made of, and the dates that matter.

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 →

Rates at a glance

3.7%Set by IPART — a base cost change of 3.0% plus small adjustments. Cobar's population change was measured at −1.5%, so no population factor was added. The peg caps the council's total rates income, not your individual bill.
4.5%IPART's peg for the previous year — a core peg of 3.9% plus a 0.6% population factor and adjustment.
~$2,302 / year (2024-25)About 91% above the NSW average of ~$1,203 (OLG time-series data). Averages reflect land values and rating structure across a shire, not service levels — Cobar rates Residential land in three sub-categories (Cobar, Village and Rural Residential), each with its own base amount and rate in the dollar.
Mining is a separate rating category
Mining – General 2026-27: 4.55c in the dollar plus a $1,000 base amountThe Local Government Act lets councils rate Mining land as its own category, and Cobar does. The 2025-26 structure was 5.16c with an $850 minimum. Set out in the adopted Fees and Charges.
When it's due
Rates notices issued by 1 August; pay in full by 31 August, or in four instalmentsInstalments fall due 31 August, 30 November, 28 February and 31 May. Council issues an instalment notice at least 30 days before each due date.
Overdue interest (2026-27)
9.5% per annumA NSW-wide maximum set annually by the Minister for Local Government (cash rate plus 6%, rounded to the nearest half per cent). It was 10.5% in 2025-26. Cobar's adopted Fees and Charges 2026/2027 shows the same 9.5%.
Concessions & hardship
Pensioner rebate; payment arrangements availableHolders of a pensioner concession card may be eligible for a rebate where the property is their principal place of residence. The council also publishes a Rate Recovery and Financial Hardship Policy and lists free financial-counselling services.
Special rate variation (SRV)
None found in forceWe found no IPART-approved special variation for Cobar, and Cobar was not among the ten councils whose applications IPART determined on 2 June 2026 — so the ordinary rate peg is what applies. Check the council's Fees and Charges each year for the adopted figures.

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 Valuer General revaluation, and on which category and sub-category your land sits in. Water, sewerage and domestic waste are annual charges levied separately and are not capped by the peg — in the villages, water is charged as an access fee (potable water is not available and non-potable access is charged instead).

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.