Huge hike in Durban water bills
Draft budget proposes 15%
ETHEKWINI residents will have to make stringent financial budget cuts in the coming months, as the price of water is expected to shoot up by 15%.
This was revealed in the city’s draft R45 billion budget for 2017/2018 that released earlier this week.
Mayor Zandile Gumede, in her maiden budget announcement, said it was aimed at radical economic transformation.
“It’s informed by the municipality’s long-term financial strategy with emphasis on affordability and long-term sustainability focused on alleviating poverty and social imbalances through job creation, youth development and advancing the economy by creating an enabling platform for business to flourish,” said Gumede.
Water is set to increase by 15% for households and 17% for businesses. Rates will go up by 6.9%, there will be 1.88% increase in electricity, a 9.9% for refuse removal and another 9.9% for sanitation. The massive water increase, said eThekwini, was due to the bulk water tariff increase by water board Umgeni Water, which hiked their costs by 15%.
However, DA caucus leader Zwakele Mncwango poured cold water on Gumede’s statements, and said that the draft budget would do nothing more than harm the middle-class and deter investors from the city, and therefore impact on job creation.
“Water is going up by 15% for households and 17% for businesses. Middle income households will suffer from such an increase; everyone has tightened their belts already… how will families manage?
“With business, with such a huge increase you will find businesses not being able to make a profit because of overheads, leading to possible job cuts. “Why would they want to invest more in the city? This budget does not create an environment conducive for business to flourish and create employment,” said Mncwango.
The draft budget comprises a capital budget of R7.5bn and an operational budget of R37.5bn.
Gumede said the growth of the operating budget was mainly due to the cost of addressing service delivery backlog, the cost of bulk purchases of water and electricity, repairs and maintenance of infrastructure, impact of capital spending on operating expenditure and employee related costs as a result of filling of vacancies and provision for salary increases.
Mncwango said the city had a “static” rates base, and as a result was passing on all the increased costs to the ratepayers.
“We don’t have a growing rates base. Even people who are building homes are doing so in the rural areas like Hammarsdale where the houses are valued at about R200 000.
“Now, because the city does not do proper property valuations, these homes are not being valued properly, hence they fall outside the rateable brackets. So that’s another problem the city has; they are not doing their jobs properly,” he said.
He encouraged residents to participate in public hearings on the draft budget, the dates of which have yet to be finalised by the municipality but would be held during this month and May.