Mutare pre-budget consultations get underway
MUTARE City Council’s 2019 prebudget consultations with various stakeholders for their views on how they want the city’s funds to be administered are currently underway.
Speaking during the 2018 budget review meeting, newly elected Mutare mayor councillor Blessing Tandi said the meetings were designed to promote participatory budgeting as well as accountability on the part of the city fathers.
“We are going to start budget consultations for 2019, beginning tomorrow by having meetings in Dangamvura and Sakubva with all stakeholders, councillors and members of their development committees,” he said this week.
Cllr Tandi said they were moving towards a more interactive way of doing things as council bearing in mind that they were there to serve the people.
“We are now adopting a bottom to top approach rather than a top to bottom approach so as to engage all our stakeholders as council. The people who are resident in the various wards are knowledgeable of the problems and the needs of their respective areas hence there is need to engage them in the budget drafting,” he said.
Through attending the meetings, Cllr Tandi said, residents would be able to determine council rates and charges and influence the way council used its funds.
The meetings would be convened at various community halls in all residential suburbs.
According to the new guidelines for local authorities, between 15 percent and 25 percent of the total budget should be reserved for capital projects.
Mutare City Council is currently operating at 105 percent budget performance though the revenue collection rate has reduced to 68 percent of the expected income as compared to the same period last year.
The debtors’ book has increased by 23 percent compared to the same period last year. Mechanisms of debt collection have continually been put in place through debtors’ engagement and debt collection through lawyers.
This has resulted in council relying on credit supplies and set-offs to finance service delivery thereby increasing creditors by seven percent compared to last year’s figures.