Growth in property rates revenues was well above inflation between 2016 and 2021. This seems to have been driven by growth in the market value of properties captured in municipal General Valuation Rolls and not by the cent in the rand property rate, which has increased by close to or below inflation. Cent in the rand property rates are seldom set based on analysis of the change in the cost of providing the services that they are intended to fund. Rather, rates are set within an overall budget process that considers what revenue increases are required from the budget and what rates increases are affordable to customers or politically acceptable to councils. This is an inherently political process. Factors that have driven increases in the costs of the publicly accessed services that are funded by property rates include slower growth in infrastructure grants; un(der)funded mandates and the expansion in standards for rates-funded services; declining electricity surpluses reducing the space for cross-subsidisation; high growth in employee-related costs; and high growth in debt impairment. Recommendations include (1) continuing to address issues of unfunded, underfunded or expanding municipal mandates through appropriate intergovernmental processes; (2) municipalities exercising caution in expanding service delivery standards or mandates in a constrained economic environment with significant affordability pressures on residents and businesses; (3) continuing to prioritise work on alternative revenue sources for municipalities; (4) providing urgent support to municipalities to contain employee-related costs; and (5) municipalities reintroducing debt collection and credit control measures, accompanied by careful indigent management.