Australian Councils charge home owners in their area, for local services provided by the councils. These charges are normally calculated annually, but can be paid Quarterly, or sometimes Monthly.
Some councils also include the charge for water in with the normal Council rate bill, but others areas, where the water is not supplied by the Council, do not. In those cases, home owners will receive a separate water account.
A couple of examples of Council rate charges in Australia for 2009:
Redland City Council, Queensland
Quarterly:
- $229.59 General rates
- $ 24.70 Environment charge
- $ 9.37 Landfill Charge
- $ 37.80 State Fire Levy
= $301.46 Total Rates per quarter ($1200 for the 2009/10 year)
+ Water Access, Consumption and Sewerage $362.60 but that varies depending on water usage.
The combined total being $664.06 for the quarter payable to the Council
A similar Property in New South Wales
- Rates $328 payable to the Council
- Water $326 payable to the Water Company. This amount varies according to water meter readings.
This totals $654 per quarter
Real Property Examples
An example of how Council Rates have changed in my area (Redland City, SE QLD) from 2003 to 2010 is:
| 2003 | $963.90 |
| 2004 | $1,021.25 |
| 2005 | $1,082.02 |
| 2006 | $1,146.40 |
| 2007 | $1,214.61 |
| 2008 | $1,286.88 |
| 2009 | $1,363.45 |
| 2010 | $1,444.57 |
| 2011 | $1,604.36 |
| 2012 | $x |
This works out at an average rise of 5.95% per year (2003 to 2010)
Water Costs however, have changed as follows:
| 2003 | $751.07 |
| 2004 | $811.16 |
| 2005 | $876.05 |
| 2006 | $946.13 |
| 2007 | $1,021.82 |
| 2008 | $1,103.57 |
| 2009 | $1,191.85 |
| 2010 | $1,287.20 |
| 2011 | $x |
| 2012 | $x |
Water costs are affected by our usage, which has gone down due to water conservation, but the cost has gone up due to price rises.
The actual water unit costs have changed from:
2003 81.6c per kl
2010 170.0c per kl
- This equals an average 11.1% annual rise in water consumption charges.