Mayor Janine Booth said the council had adopted a "fair and responsible budget'.

Earlier this year council revised its proposed budget, which called for a 7.6 per cent rate rise, after complaints from the community that the charges were too high.

The revised budget sets an overall increase in revenue from rates charges at 6.95 per cent.

This includes a five per cent rate increase from all property types, with an additional 0.95 per cent to be raised from commercial, industrial and mixed use businesses and an extra one per cent to be raised from the newly developed joint municipal and environmental charge.

"Our farming rate in particular is now among one of the lowest in rural Victoria, with the rate in the dollar our farming families will pay being further reduced to 65 per cent of the general rate - down from 70 per cent in previous years," Cr Booth said.

"This represents significant rate relief for our farming sector.

"In consultation with the community we have also identified that improving the environmental sustainability of our shire is one of our most fundamental challenges.

"We have capped our new environmental charge at $11 for the year to allow us to move ahead with programs aimed at significantly reducing our carbon emissions by 2025 in a way that is also financially sustainable.

"We have also sought to continue to address our ageing infrastructure and 70 per cent of our capital works program will focus on asset renewal."

Councillor Tim Hayes said although he was "substantially happy with the general thrust of the budget", it called into question council's "long term financial sustainability".

He said while similar shires across the state were increasing their rates between eight and 15 per cent, Hepburn Shire would go back to the situation it was in five years ago, when it was one of the lowest rating municipalities in Victoria.

"In the long term, I don't think this is a financially responsible budget," he said.

"It puts us behind the eight ball."