In Council’s opinion, differential general rating enables there to be a more equitable relationship between revenue raised from particular land and the circumstances relevant to that land, than would be the case under a standard rating system where rates are levied at a single rate in the dollar on all rateable land.
In determining its differential rating system, Council’s objective is to ensure the fair and consistent application of lawful rating and charging principles, without bias, taking account of all relevant considerations and disregarding irrelevancies such as the perceived personal wealth of individual ratepayers or ratepayer classes.
In summary, the differential rating categories have been determined having regard to matters such as:
General Rates are calculated on the unimproved capital value (UCV) of your property. The UCV of your property is set and issued by the Department of Resources (DoR). The Formula for General rates is:
General rates will be assessed and subject to a minimum general rate (set by Council and varying depending upon what the land is used for and its services), should the value of your property fall below the pre-determined threshold.
For the purpose of making and levying these rates there are twenty-three categories of rateable land. For further information of these categories and the criteria the Council adopted for the purpose of such categorisation please click HERE.
The definitions of rateable and non-rateable land are outlined in section 93 of the Local Government Act 2009 and section 73 of the Local Government Regulation 2012.
A special charge will be levied on all rateable land within the Wonga, Thornton Peak, Daintree, Mowbray Valley and Bloomfield River Rural Fire Brigades areas (identified by the Rural Fire Service of Queensland).
Each parcel of rateable land will specially benefit to the same extent from the purchase and maintenance of equipment by each Rural Fire Brigade in the current or future financial years because each such parcel is within the area for which the brigade is in charge of fire fighting and fire prevention under the Fire and Rescue Service Act 1990.
The levy will form part of the half yearly rates levy issued twice yearly. The entire budgeted revenue shall be remitted back to the relevant Rural Fire Brigade to be expended in accordance with their budget.
Pursuant to section 94 of the Local Government Act 2009 and section 94 of the Local Government Regulation 2012 Council make and levy a special charge (to be known as the Special Refuse Charge) on all rateable land to which the overall plan applies, for the purpose of contributing to the costs of operation and maintenance of the Cow Bay, Daintree, Killaloe and Newell Transfer Stations and the cost charged to Council for use of the Ayton Transfer Station.
For more information download the Refuse Special Charge Information Sheet for 2024-25.
Services charges are levied by Council to recover the cost of providing a specific service.
Levied in respect of all land where Council deems that sewerage reticulation can be provided to such land to cover the costs of operation, maintenance and capital expenditure associated with the sewerage system.
Levied on any land or structure where Council deems that a service will be supplied to cover the costs of operation, maintenance and capital expenditure associated with the provision of refuse services.
Levied where Council deems that water can be supplied to such land from the reticulated system to cover the costs of operation, maintenance and capital expenditure associated with the water supply system.
Ratepayers who do not receive the service pay nothing towards financing it.
The Emergency Management Levy (EML) is a compulsory fee collected by council on behalf of the Queensland Government.
The Emergency Management Levy replaces the former Urban Fire Levy and will be charged in addition to the Rural Fire Levy to applicable outlying properties serviced by the Rural Fire Brigades. This change was effective from 1 January 2014.
The EML goes towards providing voluntary service brigades with the financial resources to acquire and maintain fire fighting equipment and to qualify for state government subsidies.
From 1 January 2014 all Queensland households will pay Emergency Management Levy, even if they have never paid a Fire Levy in the past.
This ensures a more sustainable funding base for emergency services and provides a response service to the community for a wide range of emergencies including floods, cyclones, storms, fire and accidents.
For more information visit the Queensland Emergency Management Levy webpage.
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