Living Here
Gladstone Regional Council, like all Local Governments in Queensland, gains the bulk of its operating budget revenue through general rates and service charges.
Discount opportunities
Payment methods
Paying by instalments
Advance payments
Arrears
Frequency of rate notices
Receiving your rate notices
Past rate notices
Pensioner Remissions
How rates are calculated
Rates calculations
Forms and other information
General rates are essentially a tax on properties to cover the costs of providing services and infrastructure to a community. How Council's total rates revenue is divided across a community is guided by the distribution of that community's land valuations. Service charges are applied to properties that receive a specific service.
Discount opportunities
Council offers two discount options for full payments of general rates and service charges received either early or by the due date. If you pay within 30 days of the issue date you will receive a 10 per cent discount. If you miss this timeframe but pay by the due date you will receive a five per cent discount.
You must ensure your payment is cleared by the deadline to ensure the discount is applied.
Pensioners may be entitled to a rebate.
Payment methods
The following payment methods can be used to pay your rates bills in a lump sum.
All payments must be received by Council prior to the discount expiry date for a discount to apply.
Please factor in delays in payment deliveries, for example via mail or your banking institution, when timing your payments.
Some of the listed payment methods can also be used to make advance payments or payment instalments.
Online
- Council's Online Services portal - Online Services offers the ability to make a payment or register to also view your history of rate notices and payments.
- BPAY - Use the biller code and reference number on the front of your rate notice when accessing your bank's online banking service.
By telephone
- BPAY - Call your bank to pay by BPAY using the biller code and reference number on the front of your rate notice.
By mail
- Cheques and money orders made payable to Gladstone Regional Council and accompanied by the bottom portion of your rate notice. Post-dated cheques will not be accepted.
In Person
- Council Offices - Payment can be made at any Council Office or Rural Transaction Centre. Cash, cheque, money orders, eftpos and credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Bankcard and American Express) are all accepted.
- Australia Post - Payments can be made at any Australia Post office with a copy of your rate notice. Cash, cheque or eftpos payments are accepted. Credit card payments are not accepted by Australia Post.
Direct Debit
- If choosing to pay by instalments, you may wish to consider the direct debit option where Council withdraws the nominated instalment amount from your bank account on the 21st of each month.
- The lump sum direct debit option authorises Council to withdraw the required amount to pay your rate and/or water notices on the day prior to the due date.
- Direct Debit Form
Wage or Centrelink deductions
- Centrepay - Ratepayers who receive payments from Centrelink can arrange for regular, automatic rate deductions from their fortnightly Centrelink payment. Application forms are available from Centrelink.
The Centrepay reference number is 555076313K. Please use your assessment number from your rate notice as Council's reference number. - Wage deductions - Gladstone Ports Corporation and Queensland Health have arrangements with Council to make optional, regular rates deductions from employees' wages. Employees should contact their employer directly to arrange.
Overseas Residents
- Overseas residents are required to forward remittances by bank draft in Australian currency to avoid short payments as a result of currency fluctuations.
Paying by instalments
Property owners who experience difficulty meeting their rate payments should contact Council immediately to ensure a payment agreement can be negotiated before the due date.
To access Council's instalment payment scheme, ratepayers fill out the form on the back of their rates notice and return it to their local Council office.
Ratepayers can choose to pay their rate account by instalments subject to the conditions on the rate instalment application form.
Advance payments
Council accepts payment in advance of your rate notice. You can pay as much and as frequently as you choose to get your assessment in credit prior to the issue of notices.
Pre-payments can be made via Council's Online Services (either as a registered user or by quoting the reference number on your most recent rate notice). You can also use the BPAY details from your last notice to set up regular internet banking transfer. You can also make advance payments by visiting a Council Office or Rural Transaction Centre or by phoning us on (07) 4970 0700.
Amounts paid in advance show as prepayments on your next rate notice.
Through an advance payment, ratepayers can also return to the old system of one annual (rather than six-monthly) water access and sewerage charges through a lump sum payment.
Ratepayers are advised to make BPAY payments at least two days prior to the discount deadline to ensure Council receives the payment in time. Please also take into account potential postal delays if paying by mail.
More details about payment options are also included on the back of rates notices.
Arrears
Overdue rates accrue interest at a rate of 9.83 per cent per annum calculated from the due date. Refer to Council's Rating Financial Hardship Policy.
Frequency of rate notices
As of the 2017/18 financial year, Council has split its annual water access and sewerage charges into two, more manageable, portions.
This means half of your annual water access and sewerage charges accompanies rate notices in September and the other half accompany water consumption notices in March.
If you prefer the old system of one annual charge for water access and sewerage, follow these instructions to make a lump sum payment.
Receiving your rate notices
Rate and water notices are issued via Australia Post as mailed letters.
They will also be available online, shortly after they are issued by post. To view your notice online, register as a user on Council's Online Services. Registration can take a couple of days while entered details are matched against our rates database. Once registered you can sign in to view your rate notice and your history of payments and property valuations.
If you have recently moved, don't forget to update your postal details with Council so your notices go to the right place.
Community members are invited to view information about how rates are calculated.
Past rate notices
Rate and water notices are available online soon after their postal issue.
To obtain past rate notices, you will need to register for Council's Online Services. Registration can take up to a couple of days while your entered details are matched with our rates database.
Rates and water notices are available online for all financial years from 2009/2010 or from when you purchased a property after that year.
Rates and water notices prior to that year can be obtained, if necessary, by contacting Council on (07) 4970 0700 or emailing info@gladstone.qld.gov.au
Pensioner remissions of rates
Council and the State Government recognise the special needs of pensioners and offer a Pension Remission of rates to financially assist eligible pensioners. The remission encourages pensioners to be independent and live in their own home where possible, which Council believes provides a ‘quality of life’ benefit.
The State Government Subsidy grants a remission of 20 per cent of all rates and charges (to a maximum of $200) and 20 per cent on the Emergency Management Levy, per year for the pensioner’s principle place of residence.
To be eligible you must be a holder of a current:
- Centrelink Queensland Pensioner Concession Card
- Veteran Affairs Gold Card, or
- Veteran Affairs Pensioner Concession Card.
Council also provides a further subsidy of 50 per cent of the General Rate to a maximum of $295 per year to pensioners who:
- Meet the above State Government Guidelines
- Reside in an approved residence which complies with Standard Building Law.
To apply, complete a Pensioner Remission Application Form and return by email, post or in person at any Council office. For assistance please contact us on (07) 4970 0700.
The State Government does not currently provide rebates for Seniors Cards, Health Care Cards, Health Benefit Cards and Repatriation Health cards for special conditions.
How rates are calculated
Despite popular belief, local government rates are not determined by a simple 'my property value' x 'general rate' = 'my bill' equation.
To make rates as fair as possible, all local governments apply more considered equations to their rate notices, in accordance with the Local Government Regulation.
The first step is to determine how much rates revenue must be generated in order to deliver the wants and needs of the community.
A reduction or increase in a community's property values does not necessarily result in an equal reduction or increase in the costs of providing services to that community.
The required rates revenue is therefore spread across a community according to the distribution of its properties' values.
This distribution of property values across a community typically fluctuates from year to year. Some years a drop or rise in value can be evenly spread across all properties. Other years a pocket of properties will experience a dip or rise in value that is steeper than other properties in the region.
The relatively fixed cost of providing adequate services, combined with uneven levels of property value changes, explains why a drop or rise in a property's value doesn't necessarily result in an associated drop or rise in its rates.
Therefore, an individual property's rates bill is governed by its value compared to other properties in the region and the fixed costs of its Council.
A rate cap is also applied to reduce the impact of large valuation increases on residential, rural, small businesses and light industrial properties.
Rates calculations for 2019-20
This financial year, general rates have increased, on average, by 1.94%. But, as explained above, rates for individual properties will vary – some will receive a decrease, others will experience no change, and some will experience an increase of up to our cap of 10%, for residential properties and 15% for business/commercial properties.