NSW council rate pegs set for 2026-27 including Gunnedah

The NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has set council rate pegs for the 2026-27 financial year, including for Gunnedah Shire Council.

Tribunal chair Carmel Donnelly said IPART sets a separate rate peg for each of the state’s 128 local government areas and core rate pegs range from 2.5% to 4.2%.

IPART sets a rate peg annually for each local government in NSW which caps each council’s increase in the income they collect from ordinary rates.

Gunnedah Shire Council’s 2026-27 final rate peg of 3.7% included of core rate peg of 2.8% and population figure of 0.9 %.

“The rate peg allows councils to increase income from rates to keep pace with increased costs, while limiting the increase to what is necessary to maintain services,” Ms Donnelly said. “This helps councils keep providing services that ratepayers rely on.

“The rate peg reflects changes in council operating costs. The Tribunal has also included an adjustment to smooth the impact of local government election costs for ratepayers.” she said.

“Eighty-three councils will also receive an additional population growth factor to reflect their increasing population, so council’s total rates income per capita keeps pace with population growth.”

The rate peg only applies to a council’s ‘general income’, which is mostly from rates and makes up around a third of councils’ total income on average. Councils receive revenue from multiple sources other than rates, including grants and user fees and charges.

Gunnedah Shire Council has already elected to introduce a Special Rate Variation, significantly above the nominated rate peg. But a decision is still pending for other councils across NSW whether rates will rise. The rate peg doesn’t automatically change the rates notice people receive from their council. Each elected council decides whether to increase rates, which categories of rates to change, and what concessions apply to people in need of financial assistance.

“We encourage any ratepayers facing difficulty paying their rates bill to get in touch with their council for information on concessions and other assistance options,” Ms Donnelly said.

In May, IPART approved Gunnedah Shire Council’s application to increase rates above the rate peg.

Council was granted approval for a permanent cumulative Special Rate Variation of 37.67% over two years commencing from July 1, 2025. This applies only to the rates portion of the bill (usually listed as the first item e.g. “Residential Gunnedah”) and not essential charges such as waste, water and sewerage.

The Special Rate Variation be applied was based on:

• a 32.25% cumulative increase (21.80% above rate peg) applied to the Residential, Business, Farmland rating categories, and

• an 85.13% cumulative increase (64.33% above rate peg) applied to the Mining rating category. These values included a forecasted rate peg of 4.7% in Year 1 and 3.5% in Year 2.

Gunnedah Shire Council has been advocating for an increase to the NSW rate peg. Council says the rate peg, combined with cost shifting from other levels of governments and rapidly rising expenses, has not allowed rates to keep pace with costs.