Yass Valley landowners will feel the pinch come July 1 when rates rise by 8.5 per cent for a fourth year.
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The average increase is $81 to residential, $227 to business and $219 to farmland rates in the 2019/20 financial year.
This additional funding will primarily go towards bridge and road upgrades, the promise Yass Valley Council made to residents when in 2016 it proposed a special rate variation (SRV) of 8.5 per cent each year for four years.
The SRV will provide $2,130,000 to replace 11 timber bridges and upgrade roads including Wargelia, Nanima and Yass Valley Way, as shown in the council's 2019/20 Operational Plan.
The bridges will be replaced on Yass River Rd (Walmsleys Crossing), Black Range Rd (Derringullen Creek), Leake Street (Bowning Crk), Graces Flat Rd (Two Mile Crk), Childowla Rd (Jugiong and Oak Crks), Burrinjuck Rd (Barren Jack Crk), Horseshoe Rd (Mullion Crk), Nottingham Rd (Nottingham and Micalong Crks) and Childowla Rd (Limestone Crk).
A council spokesperson said the timber bridge replacement program would be completed by 2020 and was expected to take more than 25 years without the SRV.
The council's SRV was approved by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) in May 2016.
It was 6 per cent over the council's assumed rate peg of 2.5 per cent in 2016/17 and would be used to improve the council's financial sustainability and provide additional capital expenditure.
At the time of approval, the council was forecasting operating deficits without a SRV, although those deficits were predicted to slowly decrease each year from -8.5 per cent in 2017/18 to -3.4 per cent in 2024/25.
The council's 2019/20 revenue is budgeted at $40.68m, which includes $10.38m in capital, grants and contributions. That amount is primarily generated by rates and charges (43 per cent).
The council's expenditure is budgeted at $27.9m and includes a $2.3m surplus. The biggest expenditure item is employee costs (42%), which is consistent with other councils of its size.
This is the final year the SRV will be implemented and includes the 2.7 per cent rate peg set by IPART for all NSW local government areas for 2019/20.
The four-year SRV cumulative increase is 38.6 per cent, which will remain as the rate base from July.
Ratepayers who pay quarterly will receive their first bill on August 31.
