The short answer is no. Bendigo's house prices may have soared, but council rates are calculated with different metric to price alone.
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Bendigo's median house price hit $572,000 in the three months to June 30, a rise of $72,000 since the same date in 2020.
It topped off a near continuous rise since the start of 2018.
But City of Greater Bendigo financial strategy manger Nathan Morsillo said rising prices wouldn't affect rates.
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Mr Morsillo said what determined rates was the relative value of an individual property to all other properties in Bendigo.
He said rate caps meant the overall revenue the city could collect from the number of rates it levied was capped.
In Greater Bendigo's case, Mr Morsillo said the council's rate revenue was capped at about $109 million. He said this meant they could only increase that number by whatever the percentage under the cap was, or 1.5 per cent in this year's case.
"An increase in value means no change for everyone," Mr Morsillo said.
"All [other] things being equal, if all property prices go up by 30 per cent, the rates don't shift."
Mr Morsillo said people's rates would only rise significantly if their value went up relative to that of the street. For instance, he said, if someone built a new extension and a pool, it would likely increase their rates.
The state government's ratings system caps the amount a council can increase its rates each year, based on the amount it levied the previous years.
It applies to the council's total pool of rates revenue, rather than to individual properties.
Mr Morsillo said all Greater Bendigo property owners should have received their rates notice for 2020-21.
He said anyone who might struggle to pay their bill should contact the council to ask about its financial hardship policy, rather ignore the problem until rates were due in February.
"We just continue to encourage people to engage," Mr Morsillo said.
"If people are struggling, they tend to just switch off and ignore it ... but at some point ... when it comes to February there'll be a follow up."
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