Frequently Asked Questions: 2025/2026 Rates Correction
To support our community, we’ve prepared answers to frequently asked questions regarding 2025/26 Rates correction. These FAQs explain what happened, who is affected, and how the Town is addressing the issue.
What was the issue with the Town’s rates this year?
- Following a ratepayer query about how their rates were calculated, and a subsequent internal review, the Town’s Administration identified two errors in the striking of rates for 2025/2026.
- A calculation error in the rate in the dollar applied to Unimproved Value (UV) properties in the Endowment Lands Area (parts of City Beach and Floreat).
- A procedural error in the budget resolution wording used to adopt the Annual Budget where the term “cents in the dollar” was used in one part of the resolution instead of “rate in the dollar”, which is non-compliant with the Local Government Act 1995.
What was the Calculation error?
- The calculation error was in the rate in the dollar applied to Unimproved Value (UV) properties located within the areas covered by the Cambridge Endowment Lands Act, namely parts of City Beach and Floreat.
- An incorrect rate in the dollar was applied to UV properties.
- The correct rate in the dollar should have been 0.001854, not 0.001995 as previously applied to issued rates notices.
- Refunds or credits will be issued to affected property owners.
What was the procedural error?
- The procedural error was in the budget adoption process.
- The term “cents in the dollar” was used in part of the Council resolution to adopt the 2025/2026 Annual Budget on 24 June 2025.
- You can see the impacted part of the Council resolution on page 322 of the Minutes from the 24 June Ordinary Council Meeting when the budget was adopted.
- The Local Government Act 1995 requires rates to be expressed as “rate in the dollar”.
- This created a possible conflict with another part of the resolution, which correctly used “rate in the dollar”.
- This error does not affect the amount charged to ratepayers.
Who is affected by the calculation error?
- Only properties in the Endowment Lands Area (ELA), which are parts of City Beach and Floreat that are rated using UV are affected.
- If your property is in the ELA and your rates are calculated using UV, your original rates notice will show this.
- Both residential and commercial properties are impacted by these errors.
- All other properties in the Town that are rated using Gross Rental Value (GRV) are not impacted.
How much were ratepayers overcharged?
- The incorrect UV rate in the dollar (0.001995 instead of 0.001854) resulted in overcharges totaling $999,739 across 4,633 properties.
- Individual adjustments range from $8.75 to $2,437, with the average refund being around $215
I think I’m entitled to a refund – what do I need to do?
- Nothing.
- Impacted ratepayers will receive an interim rates notice and a letter explaining how their refund or credit note will be processed.
- If you have paid your rates in full, we’ll be in touch to issue you a refund.
- If you’ve elected to pay in instalments, a credit will be applied to your rates account, which will reduce future installments.
- The Town has prioritised this process and we are working as quickly as possible to process refunds and credits.
- Interim notices will be sent to impacted ratepayers with details on the impact on their property rates.
Why can’t you just refund straight to the card I paid with?
- Due to privacy and security restrictions, the Town does not keep ratepayer card details on file.
- The interim notice will include a letter, which will outline the various processes and options to ensure we can process your refund or credit as quickly and easily as possible.
What if I have a pensioner/senior rebate?
- Your rates account will be automatically adjusted.
- You don’t need to take any further action.
What if I have already paid an instalment?
- Your remaining instalments will be adjusted.
- Refunds will only be issued to those people who have paid their rates in full.
What if I am selling or settling my property?
- The Town will liaise with your settlement agents to ensure correct adjustments are made.
What is the Town doing to fix this?
- As soon as the Town identified the errors, it took swift action to address the issue and correct the errors as soon as possible.
- The Town applied to the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) to quash the previously imposed rates.
- The SAT has the ability to make such an order when it is in the public interest.
- The SAT order provides legal authority for the correction and re-adoption of elements of the budget.
- SAT approved the Town’s application to quash the rates on 2 September.
- The Town held a Special Council Meeting on 3 September at 6pm to re-instate the correct rate in the dollar and correct and re-adopt relevant elements of the 2025/2026 Annual Budget.
- Refunds or credits will be issued to impacted ratepayers.
Could Elected Members have picked this up when they were analysing the budget during the budget development process?
- No.
- It would not have been possible for the Town’s Elected Members to identify the error during the budget process.
- The issue originated during the early modelling stages of rates calculations, during the budget setting process.
- The Mayor and Council committed many hours to interrogating budget data to achieve the best outcome for our community, including the rates modelling
- This error would not have been identified through the modelling presented to Elected Members.
How can we be sure this won’t happen again?
- An independent external review will be commissioned to assess and improve rates modelling and processes.
- The review will consider internal processes and the application of the Act in the calculations and modelling for the ELA area rates
- Findings will be shared with Council and the community.
If it is difficult to identify this error, how can we be sure this hasn’t happened in previous years?
- The error originated during the early modelling stages of the calculation, with a rating quirk specific to the Town of Cambridge – namely the Endowment Lands Act.
- The independent external review will consider if the error could have been made in previous years.
- Any recommended actions or improvements from the review will be shared with our community after the review is completed.
Will rates be increased to recover the shortfall?
- No.
- The Town will use surplus funds and unbudgeted income from the previous financial year to cover the $999,739 shortfall in the budget.
- There will be no impact on service levels across the Town’s services, projects, or programs.
What is UV?
- The Valuer General also determines property values in City Beach and part of Floreat using their Unimproved Value (UV), the value of the land as if it were vacant with no improvements.
- If your property is in the Endowment Lands Area, your rates are calculated on the Unimproved Value of your property.
- The Valuer General provides the Town with an updated UV roll annually, which can cause fluctuations in the rates of individual properties. UV property values are reviewed every year.
What is the Endowment Lands Area?
- The Town of Cambridge is unique in that there is a part of the Town which is treated differently when applying rates.
- The Cambridge Endowment Lands Act 1920 impacts City Beach, parts of Floreat and Mount Claremont – this is known as the Endowment Lands Area (ELA). The Act stipulates the method the Town must use to calculate rates in the ELA.
- This method can result in variations to rate changes experienced by individual property owners – some greater than others.
- The Act states that in the ELA, the UV is to be used to calculate local government rates. The UV is reviewed by the Valuer General annually.
How are rates calculated for properties in the ELA?
- The methodology contained in the Act requires the Town to initially calculate the total rates able to be raised from properties within the ELA, as if they were rated on a GRV basis.
- This is the point at which the Town applies the rate in the dollar % change.
- The Act then requires a recalculation (reapportionment) of rates using the UV of the property, to yield the same amount from the ELA, in total.
- Effectively, the recalculation reapportions the rates between neighbouring properties within the ELA and can result in significant variations for the individual property owner.
- The application of the Act does not provide the Town of Cambridge with any more or any less rates.
Where can ratepayers get more information?