The rate peg is, in IPART's words, the maximum percentage by which a council may
increase its general income for the year
. It is a ceiling, not an instruction: a
council can take all of it, some of it or none. It does not limit what a council charges
for water, wastewater or domestic waste.
Every Central West peg for 2027-28
| Council | Core peg | Population factor | Final 2027-28 | Final 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weddin | 4.6% | 0.0% | 4.6% | 4.2% |
| Bathurst Regional | 3.9% | 0.6% | 4.5% | 3.1% |
| Blayney | 3.8% | 0.7% | 4.5% | 4.7% |
| Oberon | 4.1% | 0.0% | 4.1% | 3.3% |
| Bland | 4.0% | 0.0% | 4.0% | 3.6% |
| Lachlan | 4.0% | 0.0% | 4.0% | 3.4% |
| Cabonne | 3.9% | 0.0% | 3.9% | 3.4% |
| Forbes | 3.9% | 0.0% | 3.9% | 3.1% |
| Parkes | 3.9% | 0.0% | 3.9% | 3.1% |
| Cowra | 3.8% | 0.0% | 3.8% | 3.8% |
| Dubbo Regional | 3.8% | 0.0% | 3.8% | 3.0% |
| Lithgow | 3.8% | 0.0% | 3.8% | 3.1% |
| Mid-Western Regional | 3.7% | 0.1% | 3.8% | 3.6% |
| Orange | 3.8% | 0.0% | 3.8% | 3.0% |
Across all 128 councils the 2027-28 final peg runs from 3.7 to 6.6 per cent, with a median of 4.3. Three councils here are above that median: Weddin, Bathurst Regional and Blayney. The other eleven are below it. Statewide, 106 of the 128 councils get a higher peg than this year.
Bathurst: the same growth, fewer new properties to net it against
Last year we reported that Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo
all got nothing from the population factor, and why. The rule has not changed. IPART's
footnote still reads Population growth includes the change in estimated resident
population less prison populations and less the change in supplementary valuations
.
Supplementary valuations are the properties added to a council's rating roll during the
year. A council already collecting rates from new properties has that netted off before the
population factor is worked out.
What changed is the inputs. Here are the two columns, both years, from IPART's tables.
| Council | Population change | Supplementary valuations | Population factor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bathurst Regional, 2026-27 | 0.90% | 0.87% | 0.0% |
| Bathurst Regional, 2027-28 | 0.92% | 0.30% | 0.6% |
| Orange, 2026-27 | 0.85% | 1.29% | 0.0% |
| Orange, 2027-28 | 0.59% | 0.74% | 0.0% |
| Dubbo Regional, 2026-27 | 0.69% | 0.96% | 0.0% |
| Dubbo Regional, 2027-28 | 0.38% | 0.77% | 0.0% |
| Blayney, 2026-27 | 1.62% | 0.08% | 1.5% |
| Blayney, 2027-28 | 0.81% | 0.07% | 0.7% |
Bathurst's measured population growth is almost exactly what it was, 0.92 per cent against 0.90. Its supplementary valuations fell from 0.87 to 0.30 per cent, which leaves 0.6 points of growth uncovered, and that is its population factor. Together with a higher core peg, it takes Bathurst from near the bottom of the region to joint second.
Orange and Dubbo both recorded slower growth than last year, and their supplementary valuations, though lower, are still larger than that growth. Nothing is left for a population factor to add. Blayney's measured growth halved, from 1.62 to 0.81 per cent, so its population factor roughly halves too and its final peg falls from 4.7 to 4.5 per cent, the only fall in the region.
What lifts everyone else
Most of the rise elsewhere comes from the core peg, and most of that from one new line. For 2027-28 IPART added a cybersecurity cost adjustment, after the NSW Audit Office found significant cybersecurity control deficiencies across local government. It is set by council group. In IPART's table Bathurst, Dubbo, Lithgow, Mid-Western and Orange carry 0.47 per cent, the regional rate; Weddin carries 1.18, the rural rate; and the other eight carry 0.67, the large rural rate. IPART puts the effect on an average residential bill at $7.60 a year for regional and large rural councils and $6.50 for rural ones.
IPART's chair, Anthony Wing, said in the release:
Councils are accountable for how they use rates income to strengthen their cybersecurity
capability
.
Two other things move the core. The base cost change is 3.1 per cent, up from 3.0. And two lines in this year's table, an election cost adjustment that pulled every Central West core peg down by between 0.09 and 0.58 points and a dams safety adjustment that added 0.52 at Cowra, 0.39 at Weddin and 0.06 at Lithgow, have no column in next year's. That is why Cowra, which loses its dams line and has a lower emergency services levy factor, stays exactly where it is at 3.8 per cent.
Weddin has the region's highest peg at 4.6 per cent, all of it core. Its population fell
1.17 per cent on IPART's figures, and IPART states that
our methodology does not reduce council income when population falls
.
Our view
The netting rule is doing what it says. A population factor exists, in IPART's words, to
maintain income collected per person (before inflation) as populations grow
, and a
council collecting rates from a run of new properties is already being paid for some of that
growth. Orange and Dubbo are still in that position; Bathurst, this year, is not. That is a
fairer result than the flat zero across all three cities last year, and it comes from the
same rule.
The cybersecurity line is the one ratepayers should hold their council to. It is the biggest single addition to the core peg of every Central West council, it pays for a capability the Audit Office told councils to strengthen, and IPART has said plainly that each council answers for how it is spent.
What to watch
How much of the peg each council takes, which will show in its 2027-28 budget. And special
variations, the route above the peg: councils wanting one for 2027-28
must apply to IPART by early February 2027
. None of the seven councils IPART lists
with an approved special variation for 2027-28 is in the Central West.
Sources
Made like this: AI did the reading and drafting, people carry the responsibility, working from the primary sources below. More on our method.
- IPART, Final rate pegs and components for all councils, 2027-28 (xlsx, downloaded and read 14 October 2026): every core peg, cybersecurity adjustment, population change, supplementary valuations figure, population factor and final peg above for 2027-28, for all 128 councils, from which the state median of 4.3 per cent, the range of 3.7 to 6.6 per cent and the count of 106 councils with a higher peg are calculated.
- IPART, Final rate pegs and components for all councils, 2026-27 (xlsx, downloaded and read 14 October 2026): the 2026-27 final pegs, population change, supplementary valuations, election cost adjustments and dams safety adjustments used for comparison.
- IPART, Information Paper: Rate pegs for NSW councils for 2027-28 (pdf, 13 October 2026, read 14 October 2026): the definition of the rate peg and what it does not limit; the base cost change of 3.1 per cent for regional and rural councils, up from 3.0; the cybersecurity adjustment, the Audit Office finding behind it, the group rates of 0.47, 0.67 and 1.18 per cent and the indicative bill effects; the population factor's purpose and footnote; the statement on falling population; the seven councils with approved special variations; and the early February 2027 deadline.
- IPART, Media release: NSW council rate pegs set for 2027-28 (13 October 2026, read 14 October 2026): the quote from Anthony Wing.
- The Ophir, Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo are all growing, and all three got nothing from the rate peg's population factor (25 August 2026): last year's analysis of the same rule.
How we did this
The per-council figures are IPART's own columns, read from its two spreadsheets rather than from any summary or news report. Pegs and population factors are shown as IPART rounds them, to one decimal place; population change, supplementary valuations and the cybersecurity rates are IPART's unrounded figures shown to two. IPART notes that figures may not add exactly because of rounding. The state median, the range and the count of councils with a higher peg are ours, computed across the 128 councils in the files. We matched each council to its cybersecurity group by the rate it carries in the 2027-28 table, which equals one of IPART's five group rates. We have not sought comment from IPART or any council, and nothing here says what any council will charge: the peg is a ceiling on general income, and each council decides separately how much of it to use.