City council raises rates, sets minimum charges
Council rates will rise 5.6 per cent, with a new minimum rate to apply to 1100 city businesses and a levy for Hindley Street traders deferred for now.
The Adelaide City Council will raise rates by 5.6 per cent on last year, meaning an increase of about $118 for the average residential property compared to 2024-25 rates.
Based on the council’s draft budget, an average residential rateable property in the City of Adelaide will be charged about $2260 in council rates for the 2025-26 financial year, subject to the property’s valuation.
The draft budget, which the council approved to go out for consultation on Tuesday, projected borrowings capped at $49 million and a forecast operating surplus of $8.5 million.
The council’s rate revenue has changed 6.9 per cent from last year, but current ratepayers will only feel the 5.6 per cent increase. The 1.3 per cent difference is estimated based on rate revenue from additional properties from new developments.
In addition to the rate rise, the draft budget suggests a minimum rate of $600, which would affect about 230 smaller offices, some storage areas and commercial car park assessments.
The council’s chief operating officer Anthony Spartalis said in the meeting on Tuesday that the minimum rate will affect about 1100 rate assessments, as that is how many currently pay less than $600 in rates.
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Spartalis said currently, some car park spaces that are valued at $1300 pay $178 a year in rates, while the lowest rate-paying offices in the city are valued at $700 and pay $96 in rates.
Councillors Mary Couros and Henry Davis were critical of the minimum rate and fee increases to businesses, given the context of the cost-of-living crisis.
Couros, Davis and Councillor Arman Abrahimzadeh left the meeting in protest.
A separate levy for Hindley Street traders that was raised earlier in the month will not be incorporated into the council budget for 2025-26.
Adelaide Economic Development Agency (AEDA) will receive about $9.2 million, or the equivalent of 6.4 per cent rate revenue. AEDA Chair Steve Maras previously told the council it required 9.5 per cent. At the current funding levels, AEDA expect to go ahead with Adelaide Fashion Week in 2025.
This is an increase on last year’s AEDA funding, which received about $8.1 million in the budget.
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Parklet fee structure will also change to simplify the model and introduce quarterly invoicing, where businesses were previously billed annually.
A parklet is an area where city businesses have converted paid parking spaces into outdoor dining areas, and they are currently required to pay a council fee for the loss of parking revenue on top of a standard parklet operating fee.
The changes would scrap the loss of parking revenue fee, which councillors previously called ‘unjust’.
This comes after Golden Wattle co-owner Damien Kelly told the council’s city finance and governance committee in April that the parklet fees can disincentivise businesses and asked for a “simpler, fairer fee model”.
While Kelly said for the Pirie Street pub, the parklet fees are comparable to its indoor dining space, “there were different levels of how people were charged”.
The council also voted in favour of the draft budget applying road event closure fees to state and federal government agencies and entities.
Some groups, including the state government, were previously exempt from paying road closure fees to the council because they were classed as “not-for-profit”.
As part of its annual fee review, the council has introduced 11 new fees “in line with other capital city and Adelaide metropolitan councils and consistent with increased costs to deliver services and meet inflation”.
These include changing the road closure fees to a daily charge rather than a one-off fee and introducing fees for operating a commercial watercraft on the River Torrens.
Previously, there was one fee for the River Torrens, meaning an operator of a commercial watercraft was charged the same as someone hiring a single kayak or paddleboat.
The Adelaide City Council’s draft 2025-26 business plan and budget will be open for the public to submit feedback via the OurAdelaide website between Tuesday, May 6 and closes midnight Tuesday, May 27.
