The City of Karratha is seeking public comment on its proposal to implement a Differential Rates Model for the 2025/26 financial year.

The City of Karratha collect rates from property owners each financial year to meet the budget requirements of the Council. The rates enable the City to fund essential services like waste collection, roads, parks, libraries, and community facilities that benefit the whole community.

Not all properties are the same - so not all rates are either. Using a Differential Rates Model to determine rates means different property types may be charged different rates, depending on zoning and/or land use. Rates are calculated using your property’s Gross Rental Value (GRV) or Unimproved Value (UV), set independently by the WA Government’s Landgate, and the rate in the dollar determined by Council. The following rate categories have been determined:

• GRV Residential
• GRV Commercial/Industrial
• GRV Airport/Strategic Industry
• GRV Transient Workforce Accommodation/Workforce Accommodation
• UV Pastoral
• UV Mining/Other
• UV Strategic Industry

This year is a revaluation year for GRV properties, WA Government's Landgate has revalued these properties. This year’s update means Gross Rental Values (GRVs) will change across the district leading to different rate impacts depending on location and property type.

Even if Council doesn't change the rate in the dollar, your rates can still change.

Why?

• Property values are reassessed every 3 years by the WA Valuer-General

• If your property value increases, the same rate in the dollar will result in higher rates

• If your value drops, you may pay less

To reduce pressure on households the City is proposing no increase in total residential rate yield (0%) for Residential and a modest 2.1% overall increase in total rates revenue in 2025/26. This is below both the City’s Long Term Financial Plan projection of 2.4% and Perth CPI of 2.9%. Instead, any changes in rates will come from updated Gross Rental Values (GRVs).

The Council's proposed rate in the dollar can be seen in the first graph which shows the distribution of percentage rates increase if the City steps in to soften the impact on residential properties. Following this approach will mean most residential properties fall within the 0–5% band increase.

As seen in the below chart, if the City steps in to soften the impact on residential properties with no increase in total residential rate yield (0%), most residential properties will fall within the 0–5% band increase.

Whereas, if the City does not intervene and applies the full 2.5% increase as outlined in the Long-Term Financial Plan, the majority of properties shift into the 0–15% increase band.

This approach would result in significantly higher rate increases for many properties, placing greater financial pressure on residents.

The City’s strategy to absorb the rising costs, across its property investments, grant funding, and other income streams, means it can maintain its services (including a 9% increase in insurance premiums) without passing the burden on to ratepayers.

The City of Karratha has reviewed all its income sources, service needs, and cost-saving opportunities to determine how much it needs to raise through property rates in 2025/26.

The proposed differential rates model would raise $66.3 million in rates in the 2025/26 financial year.

To meet this funding target fairly, the Rate in the Dollar for each rating category has been adjusted to reflect updated property values.

For the 2025/26 year, the City is proposing a rate in the dollar value of 0.055795 for residential properties down from last years 0.076119 to accommodate for the revaluations. The proposed differential rates for the 2025/26 financial year are detailed in Table 1 below:

We are inviting residents and ratepayers to review the proposed model and provide their feedback. The Differential Rates Model is available for public viewing and can be accessed on the right-hand side of this page named 'Objects and Reasons Rating Strategy for Differential Rates'.

Submissions can be made using the form below until 5pm, 19 June 2025, and all feedback will be considered by the Council prior to seeking Ministerial approval to impose a differential general rate.

This public consultation period gives ratepayers the opportunity to review the proposed rates and provide feedback. Submissions will be reviewed at the Council meeting on 30 June 2025, from here Council will decide if any changes are required.