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Rates & fees

Rates & fees

Rates are a main way residents fund the council — though in a shire this size they are a smaller share of the picture than in most: rates and annual charges brought in $14.083M of council's $50.922M total income in 2024–25, with grants making up much of the rest. 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 Lachlan 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 →

Rates at a glance

3.4%Set by IPART — a base cost change of 3.0% plus small adjustment factors, giving a core peg of 3.4%; the population factor did not add to it. It caps the council's total rates income, not your individual bill.
4.3%IPART's peg for Lachlan for 2025–26 — a core peg of 4.2% plus a 0.1% population factor.
~$750 / year (2024–25)About 38% below the NSW average of ~$1,203 (OLG time-series data). The OLG file records no average domestic waste charge for Lachlan, so we do not state one — council's Fees and Charges schedule has the current waste, water and sewer charges.
How your bill is worked out
Base amount + (land value × ad valorem rate)Council uses a base amount plus an ad valorem component, which it says brings higher and lower land values closer together. Land values come from the NSW Valuer General and are reissued every three years; objections go to the Valuer General (Value NSW, 1800 110 038), not to council.
Instalments
31 August, 30 November, 28 February, 31 MayRates run 1 July to 30 June and are billed in four instalments; a single full-year payment is due on or before 31 August. Notices are issued about four weeks before each due date.
Overdue interest (2026–27)
9.5% per annumThe maximum interest rate on overdue rates and charges is set each year by the Minister for Local Government — 9.5% per annum for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 (OLG Council Circular 26-06, 15 May 2026). Council's rates page states that interest is charged on overdue amounts but does not publish the rate.
Pensioner concession
Up to $425 a year for eligible pensioners$250 off ordinary rates (including garbage charges) for residential or farmland properties, plus $87.50 off the sewer access charge and $87.50 off the water access charge where those apply. Requires a Pensioner Concession Card or a Veterans Gold Card stamped TPI or EDA; a Seniors Card or Health Care Card is not sufficient.
Special rate variation (SRV)
None identified — the ordinary IPART peg appliesWe found no council-published special or special-variation application for Lachlan Shire, and Lachlan was not among the ten councils whose applications IPART determined on 2 June 2026. If council proposes one in future it must go on public exhibition — see the Have Your Say and Public Exhibition pages.

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 — council published a reminder of exactly this point in July 2026.

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.