Kiama Council’s rate peg for the 2024-25 financial year has been set at 4.5 per cent, representing the maximum amount that council can increase its general income next year.

The rate peg is determined by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) of NSW, taking into account factors like the Base Cost Change (BCC) by council group, population factor based on council’s population growth and each council’s contributions to the Emergency Services Levy. A council would require approval from IPART if they wanted to increase rates revenue beyond the rate peg.

The core rate peg (before the population factor is applied) varies between councils, ranging from 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent, though the final rate peg after applying the population factor ranges from 4.5 per cent to 8.2 per cent.

Kiama Council’s core and final rate peg was 4.5 per cent, making it one of the lowest rate pegs in the state. It does however represent a marginal increase from the 4.2 per cent final rate peg set by Kiama Council in the 2023-24 financial year, which was smaller than the 5.1 per cent rate peg set by IPART that year. The rate peg for 2022-23 was adjusted to 4.2 per cent due to the Additional Special Variation (ASV) Kiama Council was granted for that financial year.

IPART used a new methodology to determine the rate peg this year, and Kiama Council stated that it supports IPART’s ongoing work in this area.

You can read more about how the rate peg for the 2024-25 financial year was determined here.