Kiama Municipal Council wants to hike up residents' rates.
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The council has applied to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal to increase their general revenue above the rate peg in 2019-20.
The council wants to increase rates by 16.4 per cent over two years to fund maintenance and the renewal of assets. If approved, the increase will be retained permanently in the rate base.
IPART has set the rate peg for 2019-20 at 2.7 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent in 2018-19 primarily due to increases in labour, energy and construction costs.
Councils requiring additional revenue are able to apply to IPART for either permanent or temporary single year or multi-year increases above the rate peg, which are known as special variations.
Kiama is one of 13 councils across the state and the only one on the South Coast to request an increase.
IPART will determine the 13 applications by mid-May and councils electing to apply the approved increases would be able to do so for the 2019-20 year.
