How rates are calculated

Four steps to calculate rates

Four steps: council sets its budget; the Valuer-General totals all property values; rate-in-the-dollar is budget divided by that total; your bill is your property value multiplied by the rate-in-the-dollar.

Note: Some councils add a waste or municipal charge on top, but this basic calculation is the same everywhere in Victoria.

Why your bill can fall when your house gains value

Council decides how much it needs to collect in total. That total is the pie. Your rates are your slice of it, and the size of your slice depends on what your property is worth compared with every other property in the municipality — not on what it is worth by itself.

So if your value rose by less than the average, your slice gets smaller and your bill can fall even though your house is worth more. If it rose by more than the average, your bill rises. And if your value fell but everyone else’s fell further, your bill still goes up.

Example

Example only for education purposes.