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.
- 4.4%Set by IPART — a base peg of 3.6% plus adjustments (population, cumulative catch-up and other factors). It caps the council's total rates income, not your individual bill.
- 2.7%IPART's rate peg for Leeton for 2026–27 — a core peg of 3.0% plus and minus small adjustment factors, netting to 2.7%.
- ~$1,118 / year (2024–25)About 7% below the NSW average of ~$1,203 (OLG data).
- What the peg caps
- Total rates income — not your billIt doesn't cap the domestic waste charge, which is separate.
- 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.
- Special rate variation (SRV)
- None currently in forceA proposed SRV (52.52% cumulative over two years) was put to the community in 2022 but was not adopted by councillors. In 2025 the council commissioned an independent Financial Sustainability Report and formed a Financial Sustainability Advisory Committee to prepare further work before any future SRV application is considered — see Priorities & direction.
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 revaluation.
Sources — check it yourself
- Leeton Shire Council — Rates, Fees and Charges · 2026
- IPART — Rate pegs for NSW councils 2025–26 · Oct 2024
- IPART — Rate pegs for NSW councils 2026–27 · Sep 2025
- Office of Local Government — Council Circulars (overdue interest 2025–26) · 2025–26
- The Irrigator — residents urged to bring rate hike concerns to sessions (2022 SRV proposal)
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.