Redland City adopts 11.23% lift in rates and utility revenue

Redland City Council has adopted its 2026-27 rates and charges at Tuesday’s special budget meeting in Cleveland, locking in an 11.23% rise in revenue from rates and utility charges compared with 2025-26. The changes take effect from 1 July 2026 and will flow through to rate notices and utility bills across the city.

The budget papers adopted by council include the revenue statement, financial position, cash flows, income and expenditure statement and long-term financial forecast. Council also resolved to adopt new differential rating categories for 2026-27, including new categories for shopping centres and retirement and lifestyle villages.

Several separate charges were also adopted. The Environment and Coastal Management separate charge rises from $258.00 to $280.48 per property. Council also adopted a Landfill Remediation Separate Charge of $99.52 per annum on all rateable land, and kept the Redland City Rural Fire Brigade separate charge at $6.00 per annum per lot, with about $455,000 expected in revenue.

In her budget address, Acting Mayor Julie Talty said the median general rate for category 1A owner-occupied homes would rise by about 5.47%, or around $1.64 a week. She said commercial and industrial properties would rise by around 6.5%. The minutes also note pensioner rebates will stay at $335 a year for a full pensioner and $167.50 for a part-pensioner.

Council said the waste levy remains a pressure on householders, with $4,646,919 of Queensland waste levy advance payment revenue to be recognised in 2026-27. Talty said Redland City householders carry a heavier share of council’s rates burden than many other councils because around 90% of it falls on residential ratepayers.

The new rating categories are the main structural change in the resolution. They apply from 1 July 2026, alongside existing concessions and remissions for eligible pensioners, farming land, community organisations and concealed leaks. The budget papers also say water, sewerage and trade waste charges will continue under the adopted revenue statement.

For Redland City ratepayers, the immediate effect is higher bills from the start of the financial year, with some properties also facing reclassification under the updated differential rating framework. The separate charges for coastal management, landfill remediation and rural fire support will also appear on notices from 1 July.