Understanding your rates

All Kingston property owners pay rates.

Your rates fund more than 120 services across the city, including libraries, our leisure centre, immunisations, and meals on wheels deliveries – to name just a few.

Your rates also fund important new facilities for the community and vital infrastructure such as roads, drainage, street lighting and footpath maintenance.

Providing all these services costs more than the total rates we collect, with further funding provided through government grants and other fees.

Calculating rates can be complex. Find out how your rates are calculated in our short video, or scroll down to the FAQs.

You can also visit Know Your Council to learn more about rates.

How are my rates calculated?

Every year the Victorian Government sets a rate cap. For the 2023/24 financial year it is 3.5%. This means that local councils can only increase the average amount of rates and municipal charge by 3.5%.

It is important to note that the rate cap does not mean that rates for each individual property will increase by 3.5%, the cap applies to the average across all rates – not individual properties.

Your share of the total rate amount is set by the value of your property plus a municipal charge, a user-pays waste charge and the Fire Services Levy.

Properties right across Kingston are independently valued every year, by the Victorian Valuer-General. Higher value properties pay a greater share, while lower valued properties pay a smaller share.

The key issue in determining your share of the rates bill is how your property value has moved in comparison to the average movement of properties in Kingston.

What do the three valuations on the rate notice mean?

The three (3) valuations shown on your rate notice are Site Value (SV), Capital Improved Value (CIV), and the Net Annual Value (NAV).

SV

Site Value is the market value of the land only.

CIV

Capital Improved Value is the total market value of the land plus buildings and other improvements.

NAV

Net Annual Value is either 5% of the CIV or the current value of a property's net annual rental (gross annual rental less specified outgoings such as insurances, land tax and maintenance costs, but excluding Council rates). Residential dwellings and own-your-own flats by law must have an NAV which is five percent of the CIV.

What is a supplementary valuation?

In certain circumstances, valuations must be changed between general revaluations. These are known as supplementary valuations and are required when the circumstances of a property changes which affects the property’s value.

For more information, see the valuations page.

What's the Municipal Charge?

The Municipal Charge is a charge that is applied to each rateable property to allow recovery of part of the administrative costs of operating the Council. Administrative programs such as finance, asset management, information systems, corporate records, human resources and governance will be supported by this revenue.

The Municipal Charge cannot exceed 20% of the rate revenue (including general rates and municipal charges). This has currently been set at $100 per annum.

What do I do if my details have changed?

It is important each resident receives a rate notice so they can pay on time, without penalty. If you have changed address, or have changed any contact details you can update your details.