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 — but a council can apply to IPART for a Special Rate Variation (SRV) to raise rates by more. Here's the current position for Hawkesbury, 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.
- 3.9%Set by IPART — a base cost change of 3.6% plus adjustments, with a 0.0% population factor. It caps the council's total rates income, not your individual bill.
- 2026–27 (Special Rate Variation)
- 8.66%On 2 June 2026 IPART approved a Special Rate Variation of 8.66% per year for four years (2026–27 to 2029–30), inclusive of the rate peg — a cumulative increase of about 39.4%. Without the SRV, IPART's standard 2026–27 rate peg for Hawkesbury would have been 3.1%.
- Where the SRV money goes
- Infrastructure renewal (roads)IPART's determination requires every dollar raised above the rate peg to go to asset renewal, with the council reporting annually. The council cited an asset-renewal shortfall identified in its Asset Management Strategy 2025–2035.
- 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.
The rate peg (and the approved SRV) limit 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. Confirm the current figures for your property on the council's rates page 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.