Your Rates bill
Rates are a charge against a property (rating unit) that is set by the local and regional councils to provide and maintain all sorts of local services like safe roads and footpaths, recycling, parks and playgrounds and community facilities like pools and libraries
From the millions it takes to run our towns each year, just over half comes from rates. The other half comes other sources such as fees and charges, contributions from developers as well as governemnt subsidies and contributions.
When calculating rates, some of the things rates are impacted by are:
- What town you live in (we have targeted ward rates for each of our different towns).
- What your property is worth (this is called a Capital Value General Rate and is based on an independent valuation of your property).
- How many dwellings you have on a property (this is charged through something called a Uniform Annual General Charge).
When are your rates due?
Instalment number: | Due date: | Penalty added from: |
---|---|---|
Instalment 1 | 21 August 2023 | 28 August 2023 |
Instalment 2 | 21 November 2023 | 28 November 2023 |
Instalment 3 | 21 February 2024 | 28 February 2024 |
Instalment 4 | 21 May 2024 | 28 May 2024 |
Six-Monthly | |
Instalment 1 | 5 July 2023 |
Instalment 2 | 5 Jan 2024 |
To learn more about different ways you can pay, check out our Payment Options page.
Getting behind in your rates?
If your rates are overdue, please get in touch with our Rates team to discuss options of paying your overdue rates off over a period of time. We can discuss other options to reduce your rates bill such as a rates rebates.
If a suitable arrangement cannot be made to pay the arrears, Council will consider other means to collect the outstanding debt. This can include contacting the mortgage holder, or other debt collection methods.
Penalties
Current rates penalties
A charge of 10% will be applied to any portion of the current instalment not paid on or before the penalty date shown.
Rate arrears penalties
Continuing additional charges of 10% are added on 5 July and 5 January each year to the amount of rates and additional charges that remain unpaid from previous years.