Householders in the Belfast City Council area could be facing a rates increase of 12.5% next year due to local government spending pressures, a councillor has warned.
Sinn Féin's Ciaran Beattie said the potential surge was "absolutely scary" for ratepayers already struggling with the rising cost of living.
Councils across Northern Ireland are facing "pressures of an estimated £85-90million for the 2022-23 financial year", another Sinn Féin councillor said.
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Matt Garrett, who said he was informed of the challenges during meetings with the local government sector, stressed that "85% of the money that the councils get is through rate returns".
He told a council meeting on Monday: "The only way that we can deal with that currently as it sits is to put our rates up into double-digit figures, and that is not acceptable."
The warnings come after a council committee was briefed last week on the spending challenges which will influence the setting of the district rate for 2023/24.
The Strategic Policy and Resources Committee agreed to send a letter to DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson urging his party to “engage immediately with the other political parties in order to form an Executive to address the cost-of-living crisis".
The motion to was passed with 13 councillors voting in favour and five against.
The DUP has been blocking the restoration of Stormont power-sharing in protest over Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Garrett said a functioning Executive played an important role in helping fund councils during the Covid-19 pandemic and similar support is needed during the cost-of-living crisis.
"Councils were facing closures of their community and leisure centres and again, they were losing revenue," he said.
"And it was the Executive and government departments that gave the councils £105million to help them mitigate themselves through that crisis."
Mr Beattie said the potential rates increase is "off the richter scale".
He added: "We're talking about a 12.5% increase on the rates - a 600% increase on our highest rate ever. It's absolutely scary."
The councillor said it is a worrying prospect for those already struggling with rising energy bills.
He added: "It is totally unfair. I get that people have issues around the protocol, but this is much more important to me.
"People's lives, people's livelihoods, whether people feed their kids or heat their homes, is much more important here and now."
In a statement the DUP told the Belfast Telegraph the protocol is "driving up the prices on our shelves" and "must be replaced with sensible arrangements which unionists can support".
A party spokesman said the "best way" to restore devolution is for the UK government to press ahead with a Westminster bill to override the protocol.
Alliance councillor Emmet McDonough-Brown said: "Alliance will be working even harder this year to reduce any rates increase for hard-pressed families and businesses during this cost-of-living crisis.
"We recognise how hard things are for people and will explore every avenue possible to make economies at city hall."
People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll, an MLA for West Belfast, expressed alarm at the potential rates rise and described the current rates system as "deeply flawed".
"The current system based on property size is a poor way to measure affordability," he said.
"Wealthy individuals and major companies should pay drastically more to offer some relief to working-class people and small businesses.
"Ratepayers who already struggle to make ends meet are continuously asked to meet additional costs of councils, including Belfast City Council which has millions of pounds in its reserves."
A council spokeswoman said: "No decisions on district rates for 2023/24 have been taken. Elected Members will strike the district rate by February 2023."
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