THERE'S a sad day each year when home owners are delivered what might be their most misunderstood bill - the council rates notice.

Council rates are calculated using your property's valuation and a rate in the dollar your council has budgeted as your contribution. Statewide (Victoria), the average rates bill for all properties -residential, commercial, industrial or farming – was $1135 two years ago.

VICTORIANS should brace for an average increase of about $50 in this year's upcoming council rates.

Several councils including Stonnington, Maroondah and the Bass Coast City Council have flagged rate increases in draft budgets, designed to generate  extra revenues.

Stonnington City Council wants to increase its rates to an average $1,285 to raise a projected revenue of $113.5 million. Average rates in Dandenong will rise $46 to about $850, pushing projected revenue to $147 million, while in Maroondah, rates could rise about $50 per annum, boosting projected revenue to $52.8 million.

Ratepayers in provincial Victoria will be hardest hit, especially for owners of property in the Bass Coast, where rates are expected to increase about 7.9 per cent. Greater Shepparton home owners face a jump of 6.95 per cent.

"A percentage rise of anything above three is going to affect people quite a bit," Ratepayers Victoria president Jack Davis told the Herad Sun.

"If they were going to spend it on infrastructure then I'd be happy because it creates work," he said. "A lot of councils are spending it on fiestas, which is a complete waste of money."

Ratepayers in Port Phillip and Maribyrnong City Council could face rate rises of about 3 per cent.