Each year Redlands2030 compares local council rates and charges (and water charges) for typical homeowners in southeast Queensland (SEQ).
We compare local council areas on an “apples with apples” basis to spotlight which homeowners get good value, and which don’t.
Last year, we found that Somerset Regional Council had the lowest rates and charges for 2025/26. Homeowners in towns such as Kilcoy, Esk, and Fernvale only pay about $3,400 per year for local council rates and charges, and water services provided by Urban Utilities.
In most SEQ local government areas, typical homeowners are currently paying $4,000-$4,500 per year for rates and water charges. A typical Redlands homeowner pays more – about $4,900 per year.
2026/27 comparison of council rates and charges
Will Redland City Council still have the highest council rates and charges when the new financial year begins on 1 July 2026?
To answer this question, over the next few weeks we will examine:
- Annual budgets for 2026/27 adopted by each of the 12 local councils in SEQ (Redland City Council’s budget meeting is on 30 June 2026);
- Water service charges for residential customers published by Unitywater and Urban Utilities;
- The Queensland Government’s bulk water charges for SEQ and the Emergency Management Levies for 2026/27; and
- Property valuation reports for local government areas issued from year to year by the Queensland Valuer General.
Sunshine Coast Regional Council was first out of the blocks. They adopted their 2026/27 Budget on 1 June, giving typical homeowners a 9.7% increase in council rates and charges – twice the current annual CPI inflation rate as measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
But this is only half the story. We still need to know what Sunshine Coat homeowners will be paying for water services and the State Government charges included in Council rates notices and utility water bills, from 1 July.
Breakdown of rates and charges
A typical SEQ homeowner’s annual spend on rates notices and water bills will include the following items:
| COST ITEM ON COUNCIL RATES NOTICE AND WATER BILLS | PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL (AVERAGE ACROSS SEQ) |
| General Rates | 33% |
| Wheelie bins | 12% |
| Other Council charges | 5% |
| Water and waste water services excluding bulk water charges | 31% |
| State Government bulk water charges | 14% |
| Emergency Services Levy | 5% |
| Total | 100% |
General rates
Local councils impose general rates on properties by charging a rate in the dollar of each property’s official land value. The land value is determined and published from time to time by the State Government’s Valuer-General.
This is a progressive form of taxation – people with high value properties pay more in general rates than people with lower value properties. But local councils also set minimum general rates which apply to many lower value properties in their local government area.
Most councils impose a lower general rate on properties which are a principal place of residence than the general rate for investment properties.
Redlands2030 uses the median residential land value for each local government area as the basis for comparing the general rates charged by local councils. We think this is the best publicly available information to use for assessing general rates for typical homeowners across SEQ.
The median value is the value that sits in the middle of a range with as many properties valued above it as below it. Median values are commonly used in property market analysis (instead of average values) because median values are not distorted by a few very high-value properties.
The Valuer-General does not update property values in each local government area every year. The table below shows the latest published median residential land values for each SEQ local government area, and when these values were issued by the Valuer-General.
| March 2024 | March 2025 | March 2026 | |
| Brisbane | $720,000 | ||
| Gold Coast | $720,000 | ||
| Ipswich | $430,000 | ||
| Lockyer Valley | $242,500 | ||
| Logan | $375,000 | ||
| Moreton Bay | $415,000 | ||
| Noosa | $890,000 | ||
| Redlands | $610,000 | ||
| Scenic Rim | $285,000 | ||
| Somerset | $185,000 | ||
| Sunshine Coast | $570,000 | ||
| Toowoomba | $265,000 |
To smooth out the effects of large changes in official land values, some councils levy general rates on the average of land values over multiple years. We use these multi-year averages where applicable.
Some councils offer a discount if payment for general rates is made by the due date. We factor these discounts in, if available.
Wheelie bins
All twelve councils provide a kerbside wheelie bin waste collection service including a general waste bin (red top) and a recyclable bin (yellow top).
Our annual comparison assumes that a typical homeowner has a 240 litre red top bin and a 240 litre yellow top bin. We include charges for a garden organics (green top) wheelie bin service but only if this is mandatory for most home owners in a particular local council area.
Other local council charges
As well as general rates and charges for wheelie bins, most local councils impose a few additional charges or levies on their rates notices. These additional charges are included in our comparison if they apply to all residential properties in a particular local council area.
Most local councils impose extra charges as a set amount but Brisbane City Council imposes its extra charges on a variable basis according to a property’s land value.
Sewerage and water charges
Redlands, Logan, Gold Coast and Toowoomba councils provide water supply and waste water (sewerage) services. The other councils in SEQ have water services provided by a utility company which they control jointly with other councils:
- UnityWater is owned and controlled by Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast and Noosa councils
- Urban Utilities is owned and controlled by Brisbane, Ipswich, Scenic Rim, Somerset and Lockyer councils.
Some water service charges are imposed on a flat rate per day basis and other charges vary according to the volume of water used. For consistency, our comparison assumes that typical homeowners each use 180 kilolitres (kL) of water per year.
State Government controlled charges
- Most water service bills include a bulk water charge per kL controlled by the State Government. Since 2020/21, this charge has been standard across council areas connected to the SEQ water grid. Bulk water charges for 2026/27 have not yet been announced by the Government.
- Toowoomba Regional Council has its own bulk water supply facilities and includes bulk supply in its water pricing.
- All local council rates notices include a State Government imposed charge known as the Emergency Management Levy. This levy is the same in most urban areas but a lower rate applies in smaller semi-rural communities such as Esk in the Somerset Regional Council area.
You have been saying for years that the Redlands has the highest council rates and charges in Southeast Queensland. Now you’re claiming to just compare “typical” residences from each Council?
Using each Council’s different Median Value for Residential Land does not provide a level basis for making a rates comparison.
It’s not the “unit price” for land, it’s the opposite. To provide a basis for comparison you need to use one typical residence for the entire SEQ. Like the average of all 12 Council’s Median Values for Residential Land.
The ACCC understands this, supermarkets understand it… every petrol station advertises price by the litre not the price for different filling a different size petrol tank!
You’re just comparing the property mix from each Council and using that to say everyone in the Redlands get less for more.
In your Redland City versus Somerset Region example, you are comparing the rates paid on $510,000 versus $185,000 of land. Of course, the rates bill paid on a Beachcrest Rd, Wellington Point home is going to be more than on one in Ann St, Esk. This is very much a comparison of an apple to an orange.
If you want to compare apples to apples, use a typical residence for all SEW Using the average value, $406,667, we find a home in Esk would rate $4391 compared to Wellington Point’s $4672 (+6.4%). Which is nowhere near as bad as your figure of $3368 versus $4930 (+46.4%).
The only reason anyone would use Median Value for Residential Land in a rates comparison is to deceive people into thinking the Redlands pays rates that are higher than normal.