[Matthew Saunders]

Hi Emma,

I did a quick overview for our new councillors as part of a recent report. I will email you a copy but I will post the details here as well for the benefit of others. This was the info on the slides for the benefit of the new Councillors:

Slide 1

Rates Overview
*Rates are based on unimproved land value and rating category
*Land valuations updated every three years
*There are four principal rating categories:
*Farmland
*Residential
*Business
*Mining (not applicable for Penrith City Council)
*Sub-categorisation also available within categories

These are the notes attached to the slide 1:
Unimproved value is what the land would be valued if vacant – 2nd year of the valuation cycle.
Properties are categorised according to their actual use, some different rules apply for vacant land but basically it is based on the zoned use.
Penrith Council uses 2 Business sub-categories
And 2 Residential sub-categories

Slide 2

Rates Overview (cont)

There are three rate structures:
*Ad Valorem only
*Ad Valorem with minimums (used by Penrith City Council)
*Base Rate plus ad valorem

Current rateable properties: XXXXX
Current annual rates income: $XXXX million

Allowable rates income increases by a rate-peg each year, calculated by IPART using the Local Government Cost Index (LGCI)
From 2022-23 the rate-peg includes an additional % on top of the LGCI to allow for a population increase

These are the notes attached to the slide 2:
1. Ad Valorem (only) -Land value multiplied by a rate.
2. Ad Valorem with a Minimum Rate (Council’s current method) – Land value multiplied by a rate, but properties under a certain land value threshold subject to a minimum rate.
3. Base Rate plus Ad Valorem – Combination of a part Base (fixed) amount plus Part land value multiplied by a rate.

There were other parts of the presentation related to other matters but they did include tables showing average rates increases and sample suburb rate increases.

Kind regards,

Matthew