The Draft Budget for 2025/26 was open for feedback between Tuesday 27 May and Monday 9 June 2025. Thank you to everyone who submitted their feedback. It was collated and considered before the Budget was adopted at a Council meeting on 23 June 2025.

With a strong emphasis on a dynamic capital works program, our Budget for 2025/26 outlines the major projects and key services we will invest in to support our growing and diverse community.

At the heart of this year’s Budget is a $225.8 million capital works program supporting everything from new roads and buildings to upgraded community spaces and parks.

We're also continuing to invest in the everyday services that matter most – from waste collection and libraries to staging events and festivals, programs for families, young people, and seniors, and more than 100 services that support residents of all ages and abilities.

You can read the full budget on our website.

The Revenue and Rating Plan is an integral part of Council’s integrated planning framework. It sets out the principles that guide how Council calculates and raises the revenue required to fund its activities.

Rates are an important source of funding that enable Council to deliver services, programs and infrastructure that help our community thrive.

Under legislation, Council is required to prepare a Revenue and Rating Plan by 30 June following a Council election and seek community feedback on its rating model – which takes into account the different types of properties, and their respective uses, within the City.

The Revue and Rating Plan 2025/26 – 2029/30 was adopted by Council on Monday 23 June 2025.

Revenue and Rating Plan and differential rating categories

The Revenue and Rating Plan does not influence the total amount of revenue to be raised (this is determined by the budget), only the share of revenue contributed by each property.

Council has developed a Revenue and Rating Plan that is not only underpinned by sound principles of equity, efficiency, and simplicity, but also enables us to create a range of rates that are fair and equitable to each group of properties within the municipality. These are called differential rating categories.

Differential rating categories create various ‘rate in the dollar calculations’ from the base category. These are called rate levels.

Under the Revenue and Rating Plan, Council will continue using differential rating categories that allow flexibility in achieving fairness and equity.

This is done by setting a ‘level of rate’ for each rating type, which is then used to calculate rates payable for individual properties according to their value.

The differential rates for 2025/26 are:

• General 100%
• Vacant Land 170%
• Extractive 288%
• Commercial/Industrial Developed 160%
• Commercial/Industrial Vacant 225%
• Retirement Village 85%
• Rural Living 90%
• Rural 72%
• Urban Growth 80%