Compare today’s fees and charges with proposed increases

If you want to compare Council’s current fees and charges with what it is proposing to charge next financial year – which starts on July 1 – you can download this comparison pdf.

It might be on council’s website where the entire suite of documents is now on public exhibition but I for one could not find it. So here it is:

Fees and Charges Comparison (2)

The rest of the draft budget and operational plan can be found here on council’s website:

https://www.yourvoiceourcoast.com

It’s a big document and it includes what you’ll pay in rates, water rates and fees and charges as well as council’s performance targets for its usual operations such as roads, rubbish, sewer, sports fields, child care, maintenance, and what new projects it is going to spend money on.

Public comment closes on May 5.

And then there’s the bit about the proposed increases in general rates and water rates.

The increases are currently being assessed by IPART.

You can have your say to IPART on the proposed water rates increase by May 1. Go here for more:

https://www.ipart.nsw.gov.au/documents/draft-report/draft-report-prices-central-coast-councils-water-and-wastewater-services-1-july-2026

Under IPART’s draft maximum prices, bills for typical household customers (using 170 kL per year) receiving water and wastewater services would increase in 2026-27 by 8.7% plus inflation, or 11.9% including IPART’s estimate of inflation, and then with inflation only for the following 4 years.

Under the proposed prices, the typical household using 170 kL per year would see their water and wastewater bills increase by:

• $129 (or 8.7%) to $1,612 in 2026-27 before inflation, then by inflation only in each subsequent year to 2030-31
• $176 (or 11.9%) to $1,659 in 2026-27 including estimated inflation, then by inflation only in each subsequent year to 2030-31.

The typical customer bill in 2025-26 is $1,483.

The other rates rise, the residential rates is proposed to increase by about 12.8 per cent.

It includes a rate cap of 3.2% and the rest is a special variation to take account of the ,transfer the stormwater drainage charge of about $125 from water bills to the general rates account.

You can have your say about that in the operational plan. The explanation about that can be found on page p115 and on p105 of the operational plan although it’s a bit vague.