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Summary

IPART has made decisions on 13 council applications for special variation and two minimum rate applications in 2019-20.

Fact Sheet: Decisions on councils’ requests for special variations for 2019-20

Councils can apply to IPART to increase general income above the rate peg, which we set at 2.7% for 2019-20.

Special variations may fund improvements in a council’s financial sustainability, asset renewals or maintenance, or new or enhanced services or projects important to the community.

Special variations may be temporary or remain permanently in the rate base.

We received applications for a special variation in 2019-20 from

  • Burwood
  • Dungog Shire
  • Hunter's Hill
  • Kiama Municipal
  • Ku-ring-gai
  • Lithgow City
  • Muswellbrook Shire
  • North Sydney
  • Port Stephens
  • Randwick City
  • Richmond Valley
  • Sutherland Shire
  • Tamworth Regional

North Sydney and Sutherland Shire councils also applied for an increase in minimum rates.

We assessed applications against the criteria set out in the Office of Local Government’s Guidelines for the preparation of an application for a special variation to general income (the Guidelines).

All special variation applications needed to demonstrate the need for the additional revenue, that the council engaged with and made the community aware of the proposed changes, and the council is making productivity improvements.

The timetable for the 2020-21 round of special rate variations will be made available following the release of our decision on the 2020-21 rate peg in September 2019. Councils should notify IPART of their intention to apply for a special variation after September 2019 and applications would be due around February 2020.

Key contact
Sheridan Rapmund
Sheridan_Rapmund@ipart.nsw.gov.au
02 9290 8430