Special Rate Variation 2026/2027

On 4 June 2026, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) fully approved Council’s Special Rate Variation application. It endorsed rate increases for the three proposed years:

2026/27

• 15% (including the 5.4% rate peg) for residential ratepayers
• 15% (including the 5.4% rate peg) for farmland ratepayers
• 15% (including the 5.4% rate peg) for business - general ratepayers
• 21.3% (including the 5.4% rate peg) for business – subcategory ratepayers

2027/28

• 5% (including the rate peg) for residential ratepayers
• 5% (including the rate peg) for farmland ratepayers
• 8.5% (including the rate peg) for business - general ratepayers
• 17.7% (including the rate peg) for business – subcategory ratepayers

2028/29

• 5% (including the rate peg) for residential ratepayers
• 5% (including the rate peg) for farmland ratepayers
• 5% (including rate peg) for business - general ratepayers
• 17.1% (including the rate peg) for business – subcategory ratepayers

IPART fully approved Council’s application for a 3-year Special Rate Variation. The approved variation would raise an additional $90.5 million in income each year by 2028/29.

You can read the full report on the IPART website(PDF, 2MB) and information on Council.

At its meeting on 13 July 2026, Council decides to partially adopt the SRV. This decision reduced the proposed additional annual income by $21 million to $69.5 million per year.  

As a result of Council’s decision, the approved general rates increase for 2026/27 will reduce from 16.64% to 11.54%.

You can find the 29 June 2026 Council report and 13 July 2026 decision minutes in the Related Information section of this page.

Council will:

1. maintain the proposed $10 million per year additional funding for the maintenance and renewal of roads, stormwater systems, parks, sporting fields, playgrounds and footpaths

2. reduce funding to $20 million per year for the operation and maintenance of projects delivered through the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grants Program

3. remove the proposed contribution towards funding 2 new public administration centres at Rooty Hill and Blacktown city centre.

Council has invited tenders for its future office accommodation. It will consider the funding strategy and the tender results later this year.

In 2026/27, average rates across the 3 major rating categories are illustrated below.

To see how your rates maintain essential services and invest in roads, parks, playgrounds, sporting facilities, libraries, aquatic centres, and community buildings, see the brochure ‘Your rates at work’ in the Related Information section of this page.

Our population is predicted to grow from 450,000 to more than 600,000 in the next 20 years, the same as the population of Tasmania.

The income we receive from our growth is not enough to fund our ongoing, or future costs, to ensure current levels of service, adequately maintain current assets, operate and maintain new community shared spaces as well as upgrade and invest in new public administration centres so Council maintains and can increase service levels for a growing city.

A Special Rate Variation allows Council to increase its general rates income above the rate peg as set by IPART.

Council will apply its Special Rate Variation differently over residential and business rating categories which will be a permanent increase in Council’s total income.

Council outlined in its SRV application that its productivity and cost containment initiatives resulted in savings of approximately $81.1 million, consisting of $65.6 million from one-off savings and $15.5 million from recurring annual savings. The council also incorporated the impact of its productivity and cost containment initiatives in its Long-Term Financial Plan. 

Application-Form-Part-A.pdf(PDF, 998KB)

Application-Form-Part-B-Special-Variation-2026-27.pdf(PDF, 31MB)