As part of Wingecarribee Shire Council's 'Fit for the Future' submission, it identified a special rate variation application would be essential to meet Fit for the Future guidelines and achieve long-term financial sustainability.

In last week's Ordinary Meeting of Council, a unanimous decision was made to engage the community in the council's consultation process ahead of its application for a special rate variation of nine per cent.

Mayor Duncan Gair said it was "one of the most important" motions this council would endorse in its term.

However, Cr Gair said it was a "big call" for councillors to present this to the community ahead of the forthcoming council election next year.

"The engagement has to be done in a manner to take the community with us, as opposed to putting up a road block," he said.

Cr Gair said the council would impose the special rate variation as a way to recognise its economic sustainability and to recognise the "vast" amount of infrastructure backlog that needed repair and upgrade.

"It's not about a pot of money being generated to spend on a project, it is about Fit for the Future, acknowledging the criteria we have submitted to the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), that we do have a problem, that we have to address it and we have to convince the community that we need their support to do so," Cr Gair said.

"Because, if we don't get the community support, we are in big trouble."

Consultations will include telephone, online and print surveys, household information sheets, and the Delivery Program and Resourcing Strategy on public exhibition.

The council will undertake its community consultation over the next six months before the council applies for a special rate variation in February 2016.