In the face of rising land values and significant growth, Wollondilly Shire Council has voted to streamline the rate structure for the Shire, to be fairer, simpler and more efficient.

Mayor Matt Gould said, “This was a difficult decision for Council to make, but after careful consideration and robust debate we voted to adopt the proposed changes to provide a more equitable system for our residents and set Wollondilly up for the future.”

“Any change to rates is a challenge. Rating is a complex issue with legislative requirements and many moving parts, but this Council is committed to working through the difficult issues and not walking away from our responsibilities.”

“The new rate structure is designed to provide a fairer system for all of our ratepayers, softening the worst impacts of the recent valuation by the NSW Valuer General which saw land values go up over 80% across the Wollondilly Shire.”

“The unprecedented and dramatic increases in land valuations from the NSW Valuer General this year are placing an unreasonable financial strain on some of our local residents.”

“We are well aware of the cost of living pressures our community is facing and so, in addition to our existing Hardship Policy we have introduced a Resident Rate Relief Grant program for those residents experiencing financial hardship.”

The new rate structure creates a fairer distribution of rates, but will not mean an increase to the total rate revenue that Council receives.

The adoption of the new rate structure followed an intensive community engagement process, which included letters to ratepayers, explainer videos and FAQs on Council’s Your Say website.

Many residents took up the invitation to attend the in person and online drop-in sessions, or to phone Council and talk through their individual circumstances with the Revenue team.

The existing rates structure had been in place for nearly 30 years and had become difficult to manage over time, with some ratepayers carrying a much larger proportion of the load. Under that structure, rates were calculated solely on property value, subject to a minimum amount if the calculated amount fell below that minimum threshold.

Two main changes were proposed:

1. Reducing the number of rating categories from seven to four by eliminating sub-categories
2. Changing the way rates are calculated to include a uniform ‘base rate’ plus a proportion determined according to the property’s land value as evaluated by the NSW Valuer General.

The 'base rate' approach acknowledges that there are costs for common services and general administration from which everyone benefits.

To ease the pressure, the new Resident Rate Relief Grant Program will be for ratepayers whose rates have increased by more than $100 per quarter, and are able to show genuine financial hardship.

In addition, Council will write to the Minister for Local Government to lobby for an increase in the NSW Government portion of the Mandatory Pensioner Rebate (which has not increased for 25 years) and will request that this be a motion at the next Local Government NSW Conference.

Council will also write to Valuation NSW and the relevant Minister, to request the process is improved to ensure timely provision of valuation information that is required for Supplementary Rating purposes.

Council’s overall rate revenue will not increase by more than the 3.7% cap set by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART).

The new structure will now be adopted as part of the Operational Plan 2023/34 and implemented from July 2023.