The Minister for Local Government sets the rate cap before 31 December each year, for the next financial year. The cap is the most a council can raise its general rates and municipal charges. It can apply to all councils, a group of councils or a single council.
If the cap doesn’t meet a council’s needs, the council can apply to us for a higher cap, for up to four years at a time. We assess these applications and accept or reject them.
The 2026–27 rate cap
Average council rate rises are capped at 2.75 percent for the 2026-27 financial year.
Approved higher rate caps
Glen Eira City Council has an approved higher cap of 5 per cent for 2026–27.
Councils have until 31 March 2027 to apply for a higher cap in 2027-28.
Previous rate caps
Since the introduction of rate capping in 2015, the rate caps have been:
| Financial year | Rate cap |
|---|---|
| 2026-27 | 2.75% |
| 2025-26 | 3.00% |
| 2024-25 | 2.75% |
| 2023-24 | 3.50% |
| 2022-23 | 1.75% |
| 2021-22 | 1.50% |
| 2020-21 | 2.00% |
| 2019-20 | 2.50% |
| 2018-19 | 2.25% |
| 2017-18 | 2.00% |
| 2016-17 | 2.50% |
We provided advice to the minister on the average rate cap for each financial year.
Related work
Updated