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Published on 29 June 2026
Council’s 2026-2027 Budget has balanced a responsible rate rise with no reduction in services in a climate of rapidly escalating costs.
Most residential rate payers will see an increase of $5.26 a week.
The budget takes a disciplined, back‑to‑basics approach that focuses on the essential services residents rely on every day while ensuring rates are shared more fairly across the community.
The budget forecasts $514 million in expenditure, including an operational budget of $386.93 million and about $127 million for capital projects.
Mayor Greg Williamson said the budget had been carefully designed to reflect the same cost‑of‑living pressures being felt by households across the region.
“We know families are tightening their belts right now and council is doing the same,” Mayor Williamson said.
“This is a no-frills budget focused on what matters most: maintaining our core services, keeping our region running and planning responsibly for the future,” he said.
“People are telling us they want a focus on roads and footpaths, mowing and parks, water, waste and local facilities and that’s exactly what this budget delivers.”
Most residential rate payers will see a rates increase of 7.16 per cent.
Concessions for pensioners and eligible groups remain unchanged, ensuring continued support for those who need it most.
Mayor Williamson said this increase had been carefully balanced to maintain service levels while absorbing as many additional costs as possible.
“Every dollar has been scrutinised. We’ve worked hard to keep this increase as modest as possible while still delivering the services our community expects.”
Some of the additional costs incurred by council over recent years include:
An additional $665,000 increase in waste service costs due to reduced Queensland Government Waste Levy Subsidy and higher levy fees.
A $1.1 million increase in waste expenses in the previous budget.
A $5.92 million rise in depreciation costs this year alone.
A $6 million shortfall from decreased Federal Assistance Grants in this budget contributing to a total reduction of more than $27 million in Financial Assistance Grants funding since 2016.
An estimated $3 million annual increase in fuel costs.
Despite these significant financial pressures, council has maintained a modest operating surplus of $1.67 million, which will provide sustainability in the face of a tumultuous economic landscape.
Council CEO Gerard Carlyon said it was vital for council to return to a surplus budget.
“For many years we have been holding our rate rises significantly below our cost increases, and that’s not sustainable in the long term,” Mr Carlyon said.
“For example, from 2020 rates have only risen by 16.3 per cent and the council cost index has risen by 25.7 per cent,” he said.
“We need to get back to surplus budgets if council is to remain financially viable into the future.”
A key feature of this year’s budget is the outcome of a comprehensive rates review, designed to ensure the burden of rates is shared more fairly across all ratepayers.
The review has removed separate levies for disaster management, natural environment and road improvement and redistributed costs into general rates.
Mr Carlyon said these services were no longer standout items that warranted specific levies.
“They are business as usual expenses for council – so there’s no need for them to be separate costs for ratepayers,” he said.
“There was a real issue of fairness previously with high value properties and big businesses paying exactly the same levies as the smallest one-bedroom units.
“These will no longer be fixed charges but will instead be absorbed into the rates bill and indexed off the value of property just like your normal rates.
“What that means is that larger, higher value properties will pay their fair share and lessen the burden on many of our residential rate payers.”
For more information on council’s 2026-2027 Budget, head to mackay.qld.gov.au/budget