0°C | Thursday February 19, 2026 
17 February 2026
North Sydney Council’s application for a 52% rate rise has finally been made public after a state pricing tribunal published it on its website overnight, marking a renewed bid after last year’s proposal was rejected.
The 97-page submission to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) confirms the council is seeking a cumulative 52.66% increase in general income over three years.
Under the proposal, rates would rise by 23% in 2026–27, followed by 14.58% in 2027–28 and 8.32% in 2028–29, inclusive of the rate peg. The cumulative increase over the three-year period is 52.66%.
The council argues the key purpose of the Special Rate Variation (SRV) is to “restore Council’s financial sustainability by addressing long-standing structural under-funding of infrastructure renewal and preventing further growth in the infrastructure backlog” while maintaining existing service levels.
It estimates the increase would generate approximately $62m in additional income over the first three years and $278m over a ten-year period. The average cumulative residential increase above the rate peg over the three years is put at approximately $452.
As at 30 June 2025, the council reports an infrastructure backlog of $157m, primarily in buildings and stormwater assets. Without intervention, the backlog is forecast to increase to 23.07%, compared with the Office of Local Government benchmark of 2%. Around $186m over ten years would be directed to infrastructure renewal, including restoring annual renewal funding to 100% of depreciation and allocating up to $86.9m towards reducing the backlog. A further $17.9m over ten years is allocated to implementation of a new enterprise resource planning system.
The fresh application follows IPART’s 16 May 2025 decision to reject North Sydney’s previous special variation bid, which had sought to lift general income by 87.05% over two years and increase minimum rates by around 96% for both residential and business categories.
In that determination, IPART found the council had not clearly identified the purpose and need for the increase in its Integrated Planning and Reporting documents or consultation materials. The Tribunal said alternatives had not been adequately canvassed, including a clear ‘rate peg only’ baseline scenario, and concluded the scale and speed of the proposed rise was not reasonable in its impact on ratepayers. It also found claimed productivity improvements were overstated and that cost-of-living impacts and business ratepayer effects had not been sufficiently addressed.
North Sydney was ultimately limited to the 4.0% rate peg increase for 2025–26.
IPART has now opened a new public consultation period on North Sydney’s revised application and nine other special variation requests.
The Tribunal is seeking feedback from today to Monday, 9 March 2026 on applications lodged by Ballina Shire, Blacktown City, Central Coast, Cessnock City, Glen Innes Severn, Hawkesbury City, Ku-ring-gai, Muswellbrook Shire, North Sydney and Uralla Shire councils. Glen Innes Severn and North Sydney have also applied for minimum rate increases. North Sydney is seeking the second highest increase after Uralla.
Ratepayers can complete a short online survey, estimated to take around five minutes, or lodge a written submission addressing one or more of the Office of Local Government criteria. IPART assesses applications against criteria including demonstrated financial need, community awareness of the proposal, the reasonableness of the impact on ratepayers, compliance with planning and reporting requirements and explanation of productivity and cost-containment measures.
Under the 2026–27 framework, core rate pegs range from 2.5% to 4.2% across NSW, with 83 of the 128 councils also receiving an additional allowance reflecting an adjusted population factor of up to 2.7%. Councils may apply for a special variation for up to seven years, on either a permanent or temporary basis, if elected councillors resolve to do so.