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 apply to IPART for a higher 'special rate variation' (SRV). Tamworth Regional applied for and received one. Here's the current picture, 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.
- 2025–26 rates (Tamworth Regional)
- +15% — the second and final year of an approved Special Rate VariationIPART approved a permanent SRV in May 2024 totalling about 36.3% over two years: 18.5% in 2024–25 and 15% in 2025–26 (each figure includes that year's rate peg). This lifts the council's total rates income permanently, not each individual bill by exactly that amount. Without the SRV, the standard 2025–26 rate peg for Tamworth Regional was 3.8%.
- 3.2%With the two-year SRV now complete, the council returns to the standard IPART rate peg — set at 3.2% for 2026–27 (IPART applied no population factor for Tamworth Regional this year).
- 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).
- 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.
A special rate variation and the annual rate peg both 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. The SRV figures above are the increases to the council's total ordinary rates income approved by IPART.
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.