FAQs

Victoria's 79 local government areas and councils provide essential services to all Victorians and are an important part of our government structure.

The services provided vary greatly from council to council, but include:

• waste collection
• local road maintenance and construction
• maternal and child care, kindergartens, and services for youth and older citizens
• public libraries
• public sporting and recreation facilities such as swimming pools, ovals, parks, gardens, playground, public halls and arts centres
• town planning and related services
• traffic management and animal control services
• economic development activity, tourism, community arts projects and festivals.

Rates are one of the main ways that councils get the money they need to deliver essential services and infrastructure to the Victorian community.

Council rates are a tax. Property values are used as the basis for calculating how much each property owner pays in rates.

All councils raise money through rates to cover part of the cost of providing a range of services and infrastructure projects. Depending on the amount a council may need to raise through rates, and the value of the rate base, different municipalities will strike different rates in the dollar. As a result, properties of similar values can be levied different rates from council to council.

The proportion of council's income that comes from rates varies. Other income comes from user-pays fees (e.g. swimming pool admissions), service charges (e.g. planning fees), animal registration, parking fees, fines, and grants from Victorian and Federal Governments.

Source: Calculating Rates

For a council using only a general rate (some use special rates for particular projects or needs), the rate in the dollar is calculated as in the following example:

• A council plans to raise total rate revenue of $10 million.
• The total Capital Improved Value of all rateable properties in the municipality is $2.38 billion (Capital Improved Value means the value of the land, the building and any capital improvements made to the property)
• The rate in the dollar is calculated by dividing $10 million by $2.38 billion to obtain a rate in the dollar of 0.42 cents.

Source: Calculating Rates

The formula for calculating the rates for an individual property is the property valuation multiplied by the rate in the dollar set by the council.

For example, if the Capital Improved Value of a property is $250,000 and the council rate in the dollar is set at 0.42 cents, the rate bill would be $1,050 ($250,000 x 0.0042).

Your rate notice will provide specific details on how your rates are calculated.

Source: Calculating Rates

Councils break up the total rates revenue they wish to collect by distributing the burden across all rateable properties, depending on each property’s value in relation to all other rateable property values in the municipality.

Property values are calculated annually. 

Source: Calculating Rates