Rates notice glossary

Any overdue payment will be listed.

Overdue payments accrue 10% interest per annum.

Council will issue instalment notices at least 14 days before each instalment is due.

The valuation on which your rates are calculated.

It is the total market value of the land plus buildings and improvements.

Only Council charges are subject to the 2.75% rates cap.

A property based levy from the Victorian Government collected and transferred to the Victorian Government.

For more information visit www.sro.vic.gov.au or call 13 21 61.

Your contribution towards the cost to collect and process general waste and recyclables from your household.

This also factors in the EPA landfill levy, environmental management costs, and the cost to maintain and operate Maldon and Castlemaine waste transfer stations.

Your waste charge is linked to the volume capacity of your general waste bin (red lidded wheelie bin) which is either small (80 litre capacity) or large (140 litre capacity). Our Check my bin size page provides details on how you can check your wheelie bin to confirm which bin size you have.       

Eligible pensioners and veterans receive a government rebate.

Allocated to each property according to the use of the land, which determines the rating code.

The Fire Service Property Levy category allocated to your property, dependent on the AVPCC (see above).

The property type on which your rates are calculated, based on how the property is used.

The Mount Alexander Shire Council rating structure comprises the following four differential rates:

• General – residential properties and home-based businesses that are conducted at residential premises.
• Commercial – is set at 130% of the general rate, and applies to:
  • Any land that is occupied for the principle purpose of carrying out the manufacture or production of, or trade in, goods or services, and
  • Residential properties that are predominately used for the purposes of short-term accommodation rental.

• Farm – is set at 80% of the general rate, and applies to rateable land:
  • That is not less than 2 hectares in area; and
  • That is used primarily for grazing (including agistment), dairying, pigfarming, poultry-farming, fish-farming, tree-farming, bee-keeping, viticulture, horticulture, fruit-growing or the growing of crops of any kind or for any combination of those activities; and
  • That is used by a business:
    • That has a significant and substantial commercial purpose or character; and
    • That seeks to make a profit on a continuous or repetitive basis from its activities on the land; and
    • That is making a profit from its activities on the land, or that has a reasonable prospect of making a profit from its activities on the land if it continues to operate in the way that it is operating.
• Vacant land – is set at 200% of the general rate, and applies to rateable land that does not have a dwelling, or to vacant commercial or industrial land.