Rate matters

Kiama Council has contacted the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) to have last year’s approval for an additional special variation (ASV) made permanent.

An administrative error meant that Kiama was the only council to apply for a temporary ASV, when NSW councils were allowed to apply for an ASV for an additional 0.9% increase on top of the 2023 prescribed rate peg.

The 2024 rate peg is 5.1%. With the temporary ASV expired, Kiama Council is required to reduce the maximum rate increase to 4.2%, a financial shortfall of around $174,000 per year.

The Council has made a formal request to IPART to amend its 2022 submis- sion, seeking to make the ASV a permanent change. Until this is received, the proposed budget for 2023/4 reflects the lower amount.

While recently notified land values have showed a major jump in the Kiama LGA, rate increase for individual properties will vary depending on the change in land value in relation to the average change in land value within a rate category.

As Council puts it in its myth busting information on its website, “Council does not receive any more money due to land values going up, we can only increase our rates by the amount of the rate peg set by NSW Government’s IPART.”

by Tracey Henderson