Overview
Council must balance its service levels with the needs and expectations of the community and set appropriate levels of tax to adequately fulfill its roles and responsibilities.
The aim of rates and charges decision-making is to spread the burden fairly across the community with those that have the greatest capacity to pay paying more than those with a lessor capacity to pay.
When considering how the rate burden will be distributed, Council must balance capacity to pay with the benefit principle acknowledging that there are some groups of the community that have more access to and benefit from specific services.
FAQs
General rates
Waste charges
Fire Levy
Early payment discount
Why have I received a stormwater service charge for the first time?
Some properties have received a stormwater service charge for the first time this year following an audit of Council’s stormwater network.
The audit identified properties that discharge stormwater into Council’s stormwater system but had not previously been charged. As these properties receive the benefit of the Council-managed network, the applicable service charge now applies.
Property valuations
The Office of the Valuer General issues adjustment factors every two years to keep property valuations in line with changes in the property market between full revaluations.
- For the 2026–27 rating year, most properties have not experienced any change to their adjusted valuation.
- The only exceptions are vacant land and primary production properties, which have received a 5% adjustment.
- Importantly, these valuation adjustments do not mean Council collects more rates overall.
Council made the decision to remove the rates early payment discount as part of its 2026-27 budget deliberations. The decision was made based on three key points being:
1. Keeping the rates lower overall
Retaining the discount would have required a higher general rate increase than the adopted 4.9%, with the cost equivalent to approximately an additional 2.55% increase in general rates.
2. Cost of the discount
Continuing the early payment discount would have cost Council approximately $358, 000 in 2026-27.
3. Financial impacts considered
Any impacts on Council’s cashflow and investment income from fewer payments have been factored into the 2026-27 Budget. Council is expecting interest revenue to drop by roughly $77,000 due to the removal of the early payment discount.
Council appreciates that some ratepayers will be disappointed by this change. However, Council believes this was the fairest and most financially responsible approach while helping to minimise the overall increase in rates for the wider community.
You can click here to pay rates online now
or use one of the payment methods below:
Telephone
If you hold a Visa or MasterCard, you can call 1300 276 468 – 24 hours a day, every day. Please have your rates notice with you when paying by phone. Note that this is the BPOINT phone number.
BPay
You can pay your rates via online banking. Contact your bank of financial institution to make payment from your cheque, savings, debit or transaction account. Please refer to your rates notice for your BPay reference number.
AusPost Billpay
Paying by Australia Post: Please present your notice and payment to the cashier at any Australia Post location.
Payment in person
Bring along your intact rates notice to make a payment at the Council Offices, 21 Saunders Street, Wynyard. Payments can be made between the hours of 9am and 4:30pm – Monday to Friday.
Cheques or money orders should be made payable to Waratah-Wynyard Council and posted to:
Waratah-Wynyard Council
PO Box 168
Wynyard TAS 7325
Note: Receipts will not be provided unless requested.
To achieve a fair and balanced approach, Council’s rating structure includes a general rate, service rates and service charges.
General Rate
The general rate is calculated using a cents-in-the-dollar amount applied to the Assessed Annual Value (AAV) of each property.
Property values are used as an indicator of a ratepayer’s capacity to pay. This means properties with a higher AAV generally attract a higher general rate than properties with a lower AAV.
Council Service Rates
Service rates and charges help recover the cost of specific services and infrastructure provided by Council. Some charges apply to all rateable properties, while others only apply where a property receives or has access to a particular service.
Stormwater Service Rate
Funds the maintenance and improvement of Council’s stormwater infrastructure, including drainage connections, roadside drainage and stormwater removal systems. It also supports programs to improve stormwater management across the municipality.
Waste Management Services
Applies to all rateable properties, regardless of whether the property receives a kerbside collection service. The charge funds waste management and recycling services, along with the operation, services and infrastructure of the Waratah and Wynyard Waste Transfer Stations. This includes waste transportation, resource recovery, recycling, processing and disposal.
Kerbside Garbage Collection
Applies only to properties that receive Council’s kerbside garbage collection service. The charge covers the collection, transportation and disposal of general household waste placed in garbage bins. (Resident owned/provided bin.)
Kerbside Recyclables Collection
Applies only to properties that receive Council’s kerbside recycling service. The charge covers the fortnightly collection, transportation, sorting and processing of recyclable materials placed in Council-provided yellow-lidded recycling bins.
FOGO Collection Charge
Applies only to properties that receive Council’s Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) collection service. The charge covers the fortnightly collection, transportation and processing of food scraps and garden waste placed in Council-provided green-lidded FOGO bins. The collected material is processed into compost rather than being sent to landfill.
State Government Levies
Council collects the following levies on behalf of the State Government
Fire Service Rate
This rate is collected on behalf of the State Fire Commission to help fund fire protection services across Tasmania.
State Waste Landfill Levy
The Tasmanian Government applies a landfill levy to waste disposed of at landfill. This charge helps Council recover the cost of the levy associated with waste collected and managed on behalf of the community.
The levy is intended to encourage waste reduction, recycling and resource recovery by reducing reliance on landfill. Revenue raised through the levy is administered by the Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board and reinvested into waste reduction, resource recovery, education and improved waste infrastructure across Tasmania.
Rates and Charges Policy
Council’s Rates and Charges Policy outlines Council’s approach to setting, administering and collecting rates and charges from the community.
Council must, by law, use property valuation data issued by the Office of the Valuer-General to levy its Rates. The Office of the Valuer General conducts municipal wide fresh revaluations on a six-yearly cycle. Council was last subject to a municipal wide revaluation in 2024.
Adjustment factors are issued every two years by the Office of the Valuer General to keep pace with market changes between revaluations.
Council does not collect more rates because of these changes. However, what does occur is a change in the distribution of the rate burden payable between properties. Property values that go up more than the average pay more. Property valuations that have gone up by less than average pay less. As a result of the valuation changes, there will be a shift in rate burden between properties.
Further information on Adjustment Factors can be found here.
Pensioners Eligible for Assistance
Pensioners eligible for assistance under the Local Government (Rates and Charges Remission) Act 1991 may receive a rebate of rates and charges on their principal place of residence up to a maximum amount in any given year.
The Act defines the holder of any of these three card types to be an eligible pensioner for rates remission purposes:
- Pensioner Concession Card;
- Health Care Card; or
- Repatriation Health Card.
The card must have a date of grant on or prior to 1 July of the year to which the rate remission relates.
Note: The possession of an Australian Government Seniors Health Card does not qualify the holder for a rates remission.
The applicant must be liable to pay the rates on the property that they occupy as their principal place of residence. In the case of joint ownership, at least one of the owners must meet the eligibility criteria. There is a limit of one remission per year per pensioner household.
Any pensioner who has not previously received a remission must complete an application form – available by contacting Council.
You can choose to pay your rates in full or by instalments throughout the year.
The due dates for instalments are:
1st Instalment – 31 August
2nd Instalment – 31 October
3rd Instalment – 31 January
4th Instalment – 31 March
If you are having trouble paying your rates by the due dates and do not have a confirmed payment arrangement in place, please contact our Rates Officer on (03) 6443 8323 or email council@warwyn.tas.gov.au to arrange a payment plan.
Brochures
These documents were attached/mailed out with the rates notice to residents in 2026.