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.
- 4.1%Set by IPART — a core peg of 3.6% plus population and other factors. It caps the council's total rates income, not your individual bill. Yass Valley adopted the 4.1% peg for 2025–26.
- 3.4%IPART's rate peg for Yass Valley for 2026–27 — a core peg of 3.0% plus a small population factor.
- Special Rate Variation
- Proposed in 2025 — councillors voted not to proceedIn November 2025 councillors decided not to seek community feedback on a Special Rate Variation (options had ranged up to a cumulative ~58.7% over three years); the council has said this means finding around $3.5 million a year in savings instead.
- 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.
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 (NSW Valuer General). Yass Valley considered — and in November 2025 decided not to pursue — a Special Rate Variation above the peg; the sources below have the current position.
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.