Your elected representatives agreed an increase on a majority vote
Belfast Council has agreed to raise its rates by 4.48 percent for the coming tax year, above the rate of inflation.
At the February full monthly meeting of Belfast City Council, held on Monday (February 3), elected representatives on a majority vote agreed an increase in the district rate of 4.48 per cent for 2026/27. As of December 2025, the UK annual inflation rate, measured by the Consumer Prices Index, was 3.4 percent.
It means there will be a non-domestic rate of 34.2388 percent and a domestic rate of 0.4492 percent, and that the amount raised through the tax rise in 2026/27 will result in an extra £220,388,739 going to the council. Last year the council agreed to an increase in the district rate of 5.99 per cent.
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Domestic rates are made up of a regional rate, set by Stormont or the Northern Ireland Office, and a district rate, set by Northern Ireland’s councils, with both parts of the rate funding the respective responsibilities of Stormont and local government.
The district rate is for home and business owners, and pays for multiple public services, including waste management leisure/community centres, parks, building control, environmental health, events and recreation, arts and tourism.
A proposal at the special City Hall meeting by the Alliance Party to raise the rates by the lower amount of 4.25 percent failed, with 13 elected representatives in support, 37 against, and 4 abstaining. A People Before Profit proposal not to raise the rates at all did not receive a seconder, and could not therefore go to the floor for a vote.
Belfast is one of only four out of Northern Ireland’s 11 councils to have raised rates above the UK level of inflation this year. Ards and North Down had the highest rate of 4.74 percent, while Fermanagh and Omagh saw the lowest increase at 1.96 percent.
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