Rates

Council is required to use land values provided by the NSW Valuer General to calculate rates. Land is valued under the Valuation of Land Act 1916 and is conducted every three years by the Valuer General. All properties in Ku-ring-gai were revalued by the Valuer General by 1 July 2025 and these values will be used for rating for three financial years – 2026/2027, 2027/2028 and 2028/2029. More on land values at New land values for NSW.

While land values are used to distribute rates across the properties in the local government area, an increase in land value for your property does not mean that Council receives more rates revenue in total, as the amount of rates that can be raised across all properties is capped. Land valuation increases are not uniform across the local government area, meaning that the rates for some properties increase more than others, with the overall Council rates revenue increasing by a predetermined amount. For 2026-2027 the rates cap is 29%.

Your rate notice includes a domestic management waste charge. Sections 496 and 504 of the Local Government Act 1993 require councils to make and levy an annual charge for domestic waste management (DWM) for each parcel of rateable land for which the service is available; ensure that the cost of providing the service is met by the charge; and that the charge is reasonable for the services provided. 

In the current environment of rising costs, the DWM charge has been increased by 3.7% to keep up with inflation. A council cannot use income from its ordinary rate towards the cost of providing DWM services.