Tariff hikes loom for city
CITY residents can expect to pay an average of 5.83% more for municipal services from July 1.
This is according to the draft budget for the 2020/21 financial year, which was due to be tabled during a virtual meeting of the Sol Plaatje City Council yesterday.
The meeting, described as “absolute chaos’’ by some councillors, was however, postponed to today, after technical problems were experienced trying to connect the councillors.
The meeting will now take place at the Kimberley City Hall today at 10am. “Permission for the meeting at the City Hall has been approved and Covid-19 rules and regulations will apply,” the municipality said.
According to the draft budget, it is proposed that rates will go up by 5.5%, electricity by 6.22%, water by 5.5%, sanitation by 5.5% and refuse removal by 5.5%.
“The municipality attempted to reduce tariff increases as close to the project CPI targets as possible,” the draft budget document states.
The proposed tariffs are less than the prior financial year, when the average increase was 8.36%. The biggest savings is on electricity, which went up by 11.4% last year (2019/20). This year, the proposed increase for electricity is 6.22%.
For R100 of electricity purchased, residents using between 0-350 Kwh (block 1) will receive 56.5 units of electricity (currently for R100 purchased they receive 60 units). For block 2 (more than 350 Kwh), R100 will give you 40.5 units of electricity (currently 43 units are received for R100).
As this is still a draft budget, members of the public will have an opportunity to comment on the budget via e-mail.
Municipal spokesperson Sello Matsie pointed out that the tabled budget is available on the Sol Plaatje Municipality’s website. The budget will also be advertised for comment in newspapers, on various Whatapp groups and on radio shows.
“The final budget will be approved by the city council before the end of June and will come into effect on July 1,” Matsie said.
An additional R1.2 million has been budgeted in the new budget for the remuneration of councillors, which goes up from R31.8 million this financial year to R33 million in the coming financial year.
Employee costs, which make up 37% of the total operating budget, are also expected to go up from R759 million to R814 million.
The 2020/21 cost of living increase as per the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) wage agreement is 6.25%, which has been accommodated for in the budget.
The provision also includes additional allowances and benefits, including the salary packages for the municipal manager and managers reporting directly to the municipal manager.
The municipality has a staff establishment with 2 701 positions established, of which 2 018 are filled as at February 28, 2019, thus a vacancy rate of 26%.
The expected increase for the allowances of the 65 councillors is 4%, which has been recommended by South African Local Government Association (Salga).
At the last council meeting held at the end of April, councillors discussed the proposed increases and it was suggested that the 4% increase for councillors be approved and allocated to the Covid-19 Solidarity Fund for three months. The acting Speaker, however, ruled that the matter be discussed at another special council meeting.
The proposed capital budget for 2020/21 is R140 million. This includes grant funding of R116.6 million and R23.5 million from internal funding.
Among the projects on the capital budget, funded by grant funding, include R26.5 million for the Lerato Park Sewer Upgrade Downstream, R8 million of the upgrading of gravel roads, R5.5 million of paved road in Galeshewe, R5 million for sewerage pipes in various wards, R1 million for township establishment and R5 million of water pipe upgrading (from the Integrated Urban Development Grant). The Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant will see R20 million for stormwater upgrading in Galeshewe, while the Water Services Infrastructure Grant will see R10 million of the Cater’s Glen Pump Station and R5.9 million for the reconstruction of old sink toilets in Kutlwanong.
The R19.7 million Integrated National Electrification Grant will go towards Lerato Park electricity (R12 million), Lerato Park services network strengthening (R6 million) and the upgrading of the Hadison Park 66/11kv sub-station (R1.5 million).
The following projects will be funded through internally-generated funds: reconstruction of zinc toilets (R8.5 million), fleet replacement (R2 million), replacement of computer equipment (R2 million), furniture and equipment municipal wide (R2 million), replacement of water meters (R3 million), replacement of prepaid meters (R3 million) and Herlear 11Kv switchgear (R3 million).
The draft operational revenue budget is R 2.2 billion while the operational expenditure budget is R2.19 billion.