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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 →
3.7%Set by IPART. It caps the council's total rates income, not your individual bill.
4.4%IPART's rate peg for Inner West for 2026–27 (core 3.0% + a 1.4% population factor).
Special rate variation
None — council has committed to no SRV for 4 yearsIn February 2025 the council said it would not seek a special rate variation for the current term and has not raised rates above the standard peg since forming in 2016.
Minimum rates (2025–26)
Residential $978.03 · Business $943.51The lowest annual rates bill a property can be charged.
What the peg 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).
Concessions
Statutory pensioner rebate (up to $250/yr) plus a council top-upInner West gives eligible pensioners resident in the LGA 10+ years an additional 100% rebate on one domestic waste service and the stormwater charge.

The rate peg limits the council's total rates income, not each household's bill. How your individual rates change also depends on how your land value moved relative to other properties at the latest revaluation. Inner West's rates were also harmonised across the three former council areas (Ashfield, Leichhardt, Marrickville) under an IPART-approved, staged 8-year rollout from 1 July 2021 — a separate, historical process from the annual rate peg.

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.