Rates & fees
Rates are the main way residents fund the council. Each year an independent regulator (IPART) sets a 'rate peg' — the maximum percentage a council can lift its total rates income — but a council can also apply for a Special Rate Variation (SRV) to go above the peg. Griffith is in the second and final year of a two-year SRV. Here are the current figures, how they compare 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.
- 2025–26 rates (Griffith)
- +10.5% (special variation, final year)IPART approved a two-year SRV of 22.10% cumulative — 10.5% in 2024–25 and 10.5% in 2025–26 (each inclusive of the rate peg). Without the SRV, Griffith's standard 2025–26 rate peg would have been 4.0%. The SRV applies to total rates income, not to your individual bill.
- 3.2%The SRV concludes after 2025–26, so Griffith returns to the standard IPART rate peg for 2026–27 — a core peg of 2.9% plus a 0.3% population factor.
- What the peg / SRV caps
- Total rates income — not your billIt doesn't cap the domestic waste charge, which is separate.
- Why your bill can still change more (or less)
- Land revaluations shift bills between propertiesYour share moves with your land value relative to other properties (NSW Valuer General).
- 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 (and an approved SRV) 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.
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.