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Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →North Queensland's two largest councils have both set budgets this week that raise household rates by more than the capital's. Townsville City Council said on Wednesday 17 June that its $1 billion budget for 2026-27 carries an average increase of 6.8 per cent, which it puts at $5.48 a week for residential owner-occupiers. Cairns Local News reported on Friday 19 June that a median residential property in Cairns will pay about $283 more over the year once water and waste charges are counted, an increase the paper gives as 7.5 per cent.
Brisbane, two days before Cairns, settled on 3.97 per cent. The gap is not explained by the general rate, which in Cairns is rising by slightly less than in Brisbane. It is explained by everything else on the notice.
Townsville City Council, 17 June 2026; Cairns Local News, 19 June 2026.
Townsville: 6.8 per cent and a $16 million savings target
Townsville's announcement is candid about the mood. Mayor Nick Dametto said in the council's statement: "Not every decision in this budget will be popular, but they are necessary to keep the city operating."
The average increase of $5.48 a week works out at about $285 over a year. The council attributes it to rising fuel costs, inflation and pressure in supply chains, and says the prices of the commodities it buys have risen by between 15 and 25 per cent, with delivery and other input costs up as well.
Against that, the budget sets a savings target of $16 million inside the organisation and a capital program of $415.5 million. It keeps $4.7 million in early payment discounts and $6.4 million in pensioner concessions, with a further $6.4 million in support for community organisations. Free tip vouchers, which had been withdrawn, are reinstated. The council says its water, sewerage and waste charges remain below those of comparable councils.
Related readNew capital gains rules are now law, and the family home stays exemptOne measure matters particularly to owners whose land has been revalued upward. The statement says a 20 per cent cap on rates continues for eligible residential properties, based on 2025-26 land valuations.
A rates cap limits one property's increase, not the city's average
A cap of the kind Townsville describes stops the general rates on an eligible home rising by more than a set percentage in a year, however far its land value has moved. It protects the owner of a sharply revalued block. It does not lower the average increase, because what one property does not pay is spread across the rest.
Cairns: a modest general rate under a larger bill
Cairns shows most clearly how a rates notice can rise faster than the rate. According to Cairns Local News, general property rates increase by 3.95 per cent, which is fractionally below Brisbane's 3.97. Mayor Amy Eden is quoted describing the general rate increase as in line with inflation.
The rest of the notice moves further. The waste management charge rises by 20.3 per cent. The water access charge for a residential property goes up by $45.70 and the sewerage access charge by $39.20, the latter a 3.95 per cent increase. The water access increase is reported as 10.7 per cent.
| Line | Increase | In dollars |
|---|---|---|
| General rates | 3.95% | Not stated |
| Waste management charge | 20.3% | Includes a $45 State levy |
| Water access charge | 10.7% | $45.70 |
| Sewerage access charge | 3.95% | $39.20 |
| Whole bill, median residential property | 7.5% | About $283 |
Cairns Local News, 19 June 2026, reporting Cairns Regional Council's 2026-27 budget.
The paper puts the median residential bill at an estimated $3,540, up from about $3,257 in 2025-26. Those two totals differ by $283, as the headline figure says, though $283 is nearer 8.7 per cent of the earlier amount than the 7.5 per cent quoted. The article does not explain the difference, and the totals are described as estimates. The safest reading is that a median Cairns household faces an increase somewhere between seven and nine per cent, and that the dollar figure is the firmer of the two.
The budget as a whole is $785.6 million, $62 million more than last year. Water dominates the capital side: $136.6 million for water infrastructure, $33 million for wastewater and $34.5 million for the transport network. The paper ties the higher water charges to the $472 million first stage of the Cairns Water Security project.
Related readCapital gains tax when you sell: the main residence exemption's limitsThe waste levy and what councils cannot control
Mayor Eden's explanation for the waste charge has two parts. Cairns Local News quotes her attributing it to a 20.35 per cent increase in the cost of waste collection and to the introduction of a $45 State waste levy on the notice. Some utility costs, she said, have risen for reasons largely outside the council's control.
The State's waste disposal levy is charged on waste sent to landfill. In Cairns this year it reaches the household as a named amount of $45, inside a waste charge that has gone up by a fifth.
Townsville's statement makes a related point from the other direction, stressing that its waste, water and sewerage charges are being held below those of comparable councils. The emphasis in both cities is the same. The general rate, the part a council sets most freely, is being kept close to inflation, while the charges that recover the cost of a specific service follow that cost upward.
For a property owner the distinction is practical. General rates vary with the value of the land. Utility charges are usually the same for every house, or vary with use. A rise that comes through utility charges therefore falls hardest, in proportion, on lower-valued homes, because a flat $45 is a bigger share of a small bill than of a large one.
How the north compares on a whole bill
Cairns Regional Council publishes a benchmarking summary with its 2026-27 budget that sets the total rates and charges on a median-valued residential property, including water use, beside the same measure for other Queensland councils with more than 100,000 residents. It is the council's own comparison, and it measures something different from the figures above, since it includes water consumption. On that basis the two northern cities are the cheapest of the thirteen.
Related readCouncil rates in Queensland: how the bill is built and how to object| Council | Annual charge | Above Cairns |
|---|---|---|
| Cairns | $4,074 | - |
| Townsville | $4,190 | 3% |
| Brisbane | $4,333 | 6% |
| Moreton Bay | $4,428 | 9% |
| Logan | $4,556 | 12% |
| Gold Coast | $4,789 | 18% |
| Sunshine Coast | $4,848 | 19% |
| Ipswich | $4,888 | 20% |
| Redland | $5,395 | 32% |
Cairns Regional Council, Rates Benchmarking Summary 2026-27. Nine of the thirteen councils in the summary are shown; Bundaberg, Toowoomba, Mackay and Fraser Coast are omitted for space.
The table is a reminder that a percentage increase says nothing about the level. Cairns and Townsville are raising bills faster than Brisbane this year and, on Cairns's measure, will still charge a median household less. It also qualifies Brisbane's claim to the lowest rates, which Brisbane's own budget makes for South East Queensland and on the minimum general rate. On a whole bill with water included, Cairns's summary puts Brisbane $259 above Cairns, though below every other south-east council listed.
Benchmarks of this sort depend on choices: which property is typical, how much water it uses, whether discounts are counted. Each council that publishes one tends to come out well. Read together, they are still more informative than headline percentages alone.
What owners, landlords and buyers should take from it
For owner-occupiers in both cities the increase is real money, in the order of $280 to $290 a year for a typical home. Townsville's cap may limit the general rates component for eligible properties whose land value has jumped. Pensioner concessions and early payment discounts continue in Townsville; the Cairns report does not detail concessions.
For landlords, rates and utility charges are deductible against rent, but in Queensland the owner pays them in the first place. Water is the partial exception: a lessor can pass on water consumption charges to a tenant where the tenancy and the property meet the conditions in the tenancy legislation, which is one reason access charges and usage charges are worth reading as separate lines.
For buyers, particularly those arriving from the south for the north's lower prices, the comparison table is the useful part. A median-valued home in Townsville or Cairns costs a few hundred dollars a year less to hold, in rates and water, than its counterpart in most of the south-east, on Cairns's figures.
Council rates are separate from the State's land tax, which is assessed by the Queensland Revenue Office on land held at midnight on 30 June and from which an owner-occupied home is generally exempt. Neither budget changes anything about that tax.
What comes next
Notices for the first rating period of 2026-27 follow the start of the financial year on 1 July. In Cairns, the $45 State waste levy will appear on them for the first time, according to the local report. In Townsville, the reinstated tip vouchers and the continuing cap are the items owners will look for.
The remaining large councils, Logan among them, bring down their budgets in the days ahead, and the State Budget follows on 23 June.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
